Lilac Festival

The above house was the home of Hulda Klager located in Woodland Washington. She was also known as the lilac lady. In 1903 she received a book by Luther Burbank. His work to  improve plant propagation caught Hulda's attention. Her own tests began with an apple tree on her farm. She moved on from apple trees to lilacs. By 1910 she had fourteen new varieties to show for her efforts. In ten years she had enough varieties to host her first open house during the spring bloom. We attended the lilac festival at her home yesterday. The colors of her lilacs range from every shade of lavender and purple to white and very light pinks. To put it mildly, her gardens of lilacs are absolutely gorgeous. Also, if there are that many lilacs in one place, the fragrance of their blooms can be quite powerful! That has to be one of the best fragrances of any flowering plant.

Also present in the gardens are many other beautiful flowering trees, flowers and bushes. Azaleas, rhododendron, and dogwood are at their peak of blooming now in this area. And how about this awesome viburnum tree with its white flowers?

On our way home we stopped to see our nephew Cedric and his wife Angela. They were spending their Sunday afternoon painting Angela's coffee shop. I actually think that they had more fun painting than we did touring the lilacs!