Lilac Love

The arrival of one of my (many) favorite plant catalogs always puts me in an extra good mood. Klehm's Song Sparrow never disappoints. Making my heart beat a little faster is this lilac bush aptly named Bloomerang because...wait for it...it is a repeating bloomer! Yessss! I know! It blooms once in the spring, again mid summer, and then will continue to bloom until frost. I had one sweet little lilac bush- that lived, never bloomed, and was ultimately shredded by the demon dog, and died- and I have been a shy violet about the lilac bush ever since. This bush though, could be planted within the garden...breath in deeply, can you smell that smell? That wonderful, delicious, heady, undeniably, lilac-y smell? Exhale...relax...feel better....

Have I ever mentioned that while I was pregnant with Ezra I went on a midnight marauders madcap hunt, wildly snipping lilac branches from neighborhood bushes? (All found in alleys- not in yards...not that it makes my stealing, er, pruning justified...) I wanted to put together a "bower" of flowers as Anne Shirley would say for a Mother's Day brunch Jamie and I were having. (As mentioned before, I did not have a bush of my own- the dog robbed me of mine, so I, well, robbed others of theirs....) It seemed like a really good idea at the time... until I noticed the squad car quietly pull up behind me-and then proceed to follow me throughout our neighborhood-turn for turn- to the parking lot of the open 7-11 where I told Jamie I was going all along to get some heavy cream for the strawberry tarts I was making. I couldn't believe I was going to go to jail for stealing lilac branches. Maybe we were just headed in the same direction- I needed heavy cream for tarts, and he need doughnuts for...well...doughnuts. My truck was loaded with stolen goods! You could probably smell them from miles away! I calmly made my way into the 7-11, and to the dairy case. I heard the door open. I reviewed my choices for heavy cream. I could feel someone standing close behind me. (Maybe he just needed cream for his coffee to go with his doughnuts?) I made my overly-thought-out selection. As I began to turn around, I heard "Miss, I'd like to talk to you..." Oh my god, I was going to jail for stealing lilacs. Don't the Chicago Police have bigger things to worry about? "Can you explain to me what exactly you are doing out this late at night?" I was about to confess, I'd only been pulled over once before for a speeding ticket- never followed by the police before-okay, there was that one other time, but still- for flowers- I was going to jail for flowers...wait...what do you mean out this late? "What?" I stammered and actually looked at my officer for the first time- or maybe this was the first time he got to really look at me too. ( I was wearing cut offs, Chuck Taylor's, an over-sized Butler University sweatshirt and a backwards cap....) "Oh...oh...." Now stammered my officer..."I was about to bust you for being out past curfew...." HA...HA...hahahahhahahaha! (I was 34 years old at the time.) I asked my officer if he could call my husband and tell him that. I couldn't even remember the last time I was carded for alcohol, but for curfew? I smiled at the man, and thanked him for the compliment, payed for the cream, hopped back into my truck and drove my way-very model citizenish- back home. I really thought I was to go to jail. What a ding dong. Maybe instead of snipping others, I could try this bush, (or two, or three) in my own garden.
Click here for Klehm's catalog. (And to order one of these lovelies!!!)