A-Z: Lilacs, Lily of the Valley, and Lavender

Two of my favorite types of flowers are lilacs and lilies of the valley. I love their scents, and the fact that they only bloom around here for a few short weeks in the spring makes it imperative to seek out and enjoy beautiful new blossoms at every opportunity. That's why we drive out to Lilacia Park in Lombard every year and take pictures. My profile picture was taken there, as was this close-up:

Sometimes when we go to Madison (tomorrow's topic!) for WisCon, I'll buy a bunch of lily of the valley at the Farmer's Market and carry with me from panel to panel. It's a shame the flowers don't last very long once plucked. If we'd gotten married in the spring instead of fall, I would have included them in my bouquet.

Ironically, we don't have lilacs or lily of the valley in our yard, though perhaps this year might be the time to try introducing them.

Another "l" flower with a wonderful scent is lavender. I am actually growing them from seed for my garden; I started them a few weeks ago. I do have seedlings at this stage, but they wouldn't make an impressive picture.

Any other flower fanatics out there?

Lilacs 2010

In addition to having lunch with two writer friends yesterday, Eugene, Alex, and I made our annual trip to Lilacia Park to see the lilacs in bloom. I'm a lilac junkie; they're one of my favorite flowers. Would I enjoy them so much if they had a longer blooming time? As you can tell from the photos below, the park also has lots of tulips, with Alex really liked. But he preferred watching the trains pass by even more!

Lilacia Park

We made our annual pilgrimage to Lilacia Park in Lombard today to see the lilacs. We missed the peak of the season, and many of the tulips in the park were done, but we still got to see and smell many lovely flowers: