DWI – driving while intoxicated. But not with alcohol.
Wild plums are blooming along irrigation ditches lining the back roads of Taos’ agricultural land. They intoxicate me almost to the point of distraction. Like a dog, I stick my head out the window and lift my nose to the air to take in the rich, sweet, luscious scent. This is a fine end to winter.
Just as delicious, the lilacs will bloom as soon as the plum flowers go by. These scents send me to a place that seems to be out of my body, out of this world.
With a mature lilac out by my clothesline, I enjoy hanging laundry in May. To put my nose in on of its red-violet flower clusters is… mmmmm… one more sniff… mmmmm… heaven? How does one describe the effect on humans of the fragrance of a lilac? It is sweet, romantic, uplifting, fresh… and unfortunately, temporary!
Most lilacs are native to Asia, but because French growers hybridized them, they are often called ‘French lilacs.’ They do well in an alkaline soil with a pH of 6 to 7 and need cold winters to flower well. Those are two reasons they grow well here. Another is that once a lilac is established, it requires minimal water. They gracefully fare well in drought years in the high desert. (photo: flikr Mrs. Gemstone)
Lightly prune your lilacs immediately after flowering. Cut off the spent flower stalks, and remove older branches and new suckers. Lilacs need minimal care, so be careful not to over-prune. They will grow for centuries – literally! According to the Arnold Arboretum, ‘The oldest living lilacs in North America may be those at the Governor Wentworth estate in Portsmouth, N.H., believed to have been planted around 1750.’
Be sure you plant lilacs by a window or door you can leave open so the scent fills your house. You may not need that afternoon cocktail!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the tips- didn’t know they could be trimmed after they flower. Lilacs are one of my favorites- they grow like weeks around here in the north country and the scent is surely one of the sweetest smells of spring. In fact I am sitting next to a vase of them now!
Glenn, when shrubs bloom in spring, prune the stalks immediately after flowering to keep them from going to seed. When they bloom in late summer, prune in the spring, because they flower on growth put on that year. :)
I love lilacs, too. We are not going to have a good year, because it was so dry. I have a lot of winterkill in my yard this year. :(
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