The lilac forms an integral part of many childhood memories; its perfume is enough to bring back any number of magical spring moments. This is the third installment of our purple-hued trilogy, following the violet and the tulip, and it is by far the most gloriously fragrant.
This is the single-flowered non-hybridized variety, and its simplicity is part of its rustic charm. For all the love so many of us have for excess and frills (guilty as charged) I find my own style preferences leading toward the simple and streamlined the older I get. The love I felt for the ornate Victorian house I once visited as a child has been supplanted for a love of the latest Japandi craze – a cross of Japanese and Scandinavian design. The same thing is happening in my garden. The double-flowered heavy-headed blooms of some plants feel too ostentatious for these times. The pendulum swings back to the simple, and spring should always be uncluttered.
