Spring's Best Show

Lilac blooms at the Arboretum.   dwm photo

The Lilacs are blooming, just in time for Mother's Day.

At the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, hundreds of Lilac bushes are glowing in shades of purple, blue, and white.

Adding to the beauty are blooming trees in the hundreds - Crab apple, Apple, Cherry, and Magnolia.

Practically the whole place is in flower.

U.W. Arboretum Lilacs
dwm photo

At the home where I grew up, we had a long line of Lilac bushes.

They covered nearly 20 yards of fence between us and St. Paul Lutheran School.

Each year, in the week before Mother's Day the individual blooms would grow until each opened to create a glorious corsage of flowers at the end of each branch.

Lilacs are difficult to photograph.  In small groups they are pretty, but it is even harder to capture the beauty of multiple Lilac bushes in bloom in a 4 by 6 inch print.

Lilacs in white.              dwm photo

Most of all, the shots can't deliver the lovely lilac fragrance wafting from thousands of tiny lavender blossoms.

Just how the perfume arrives inside us is a little hocus-pocus, isn't it?  The scent of Lilac is a sneak.

Only a hint at first, then the brain recognizes the long-lost, but familiar smell of spring.

The brain sets off a gentle alarm to breathe deep and take it in, because it won't last long.

Check out the UW Arboretum soon
dwm photo

Neither will the Lilacs.

In just a couple of weeks, the purple, blue, and white blossoms will be gone... lost for another year.

The bushes stand by, sheltering birds and small animals, amidst thick leaves and branches.

The Lilac, Crocus, Tulip, and Daffodil are the ultimate spring flowers - dragging us past the cold, snow, and dreariness of winter's end into more light and warmer days.

I notice Lilacs.

Lilacs are loud enough to get our attention.

You just need to look, smell, and appreciate them before they go.