If you ever look at the title header here, you’ll know I love lilacs. When I started a newsletter about making life good and meaningful, I turned first to lilacs. Not only are they a gloriously-scented mass of tiny beautiful flowers, every spring they teach me an important lesson.
I feel exactly the same way about lilacs. I have a vague memory as a child of going with my family to a "lilac farm" to buy lilacs for my mother. She'd never had lilacs in the house before and I asked why we were making this special trip to specifically buy these flowers (not in those words exactly... but imagine this question phrased by a 7 year old). She said she loved lilacs because they were HER mother's favorite flowers. So, I love them not only because they were my grandmother's favorite (and beloved by my own mother) but also for all the reasons you mentioned -- their aroma, their beauty, and for the very precious nature of their short season. I actually stopped at a store this morning to see whether they had any lilacs in stock, but the store was closed due to a burst water main. I will try again tomorrow.
Oh wow, a phrase I didn't know I needed to hear: LILAC FARM. I need to seek one of those out! I imagine it's what heaven might look like 😊
There's actually a lilac garden near Portland, if you are ever in the area in April/May: https://lilacgardens.com/
I think a lot of people love lilacs because they are reminded of a mother or grandmother. They do feel like old fashioned flowers in that way. I hope you find yours soon! I know they don't grow well in CA. (Curious where you grew up, was it a cooler climate?).
I grew up in Los Angeles and cannot begin to imagine where this mythical lilac farm was actually located.
I know that they are usually considered to grow better in cooler climates, however, Lilacs seem to grow well at Filoli, which is not far from my current house. I’m looking forward to designing the garden at our Berkeley house this fall… and just might have to look into acquiring a small lilac tree…
Hey! My name's Torrie, and I'm actually a flower farmer, so I just wanted to share some tricks with you about lilacs! If you follow these steps, you should get more like a 6-7 day vase life from yours. First, always harvest when it's pretty cool -- ideally early in the morning. Harvest directly into cool water. Then, strip as much foliage as possible -- anything you leave on, the stem has to work harder to hydrate, so try to just leave flowers. Then, snip vertically up the bottom of the stem and twist one of the stem halves up so it forms a right angle, then plunge the bottom 3" or so of the stem into boiling water, or take an open flame to it until it starts to change color. Then put it in a cool, dark room for a few hours to condition. If you do this, you should get more like a week out of your lilacs!
Thanks so much for this comment, Torrie! So kind to share knowledge, very generous of you. I'll definitely try to adopt more of these.
I have read about the cutting stem method, but it just seems so fiddly to me--and hard with thin stems (perhaps I should see if there is a video on YouTube or somewhere). What I do is to just bash the stems with a hammer, which opens up the fibers to absorb more water. I think it accomplishes pretty much the same thing.
How exciting that you are flower farming. Where are you located? I bet you create all sorts of beauty ❤️
I'm located in Utah :) So, funny story -- I used to follow your Tea & Cookies blog years ago, but then lost track of you when you stopped. I own (and love!) your book, Orchard House. So imagine my happiness when I discovered you here! Creating more beauty in the world is our whole farm's mission. While it is a LOT of work and has plenty of hard moments, it really is a beautiful life. If you're on IG, I'm there @dreamacreflowerfarm, or I also have a blog: www.toloveandtolearn.com, where I post pictures from our farm pretty regularly (only if you care to see what it looks like -- no pressure to follow either one). So glad to have found you again!
When a child in the 50’s in Chicago, our neighbor, Mrs. Williams, had huge lilac trees on her property. When they bloomed, all the children in the neighborhood would go to her house and she would cut and wrap bunches for us and we brought them to our teachers. For days, our elementary school smelled so beautiful. I never see a lilac, I don’t think of her.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing this story! How absolutely beautiful, I love thinking of all the children coming over and all the teachers and school hallways scented with flowers. What a lovely memory.
And now I think I'm going to cut some bouquets of lilacs and bring them to neighbors. Thanks for the inspiration! 💜
I feel exactly the same way about lilacs. I have a vague memory as a child of going with my family to a "lilac farm" to buy lilacs for my mother. She'd never had lilacs in the house before and I asked why we were making this special trip to specifically buy these flowers (not in those words exactly... but imagine this question phrased by a 7 year old). She said she loved lilacs because they were HER mother's favorite flowers. So, I love them not only because they were my grandmother's favorite (and beloved by my own mother) but also for all the reasons you mentioned -- their aroma, their beauty, and for the very precious nature of their short season. I actually stopped at a store this morning to see whether they had any lilacs in stock, but the store was closed due to a burst water main. I will try again tomorrow.
Oh wow, a phrase I didn't know I needed to hear: LILAC FARM. I need to seek one of those out! I imagine it's what heaven might look like 😊
There's actually a lilac garden near Portland, if you are ever in the area in April/May: https://lilacgardens.com/
I think a lot of people love lilacs because they are reminded of a mother or grandmother. They do feel like old fashioned flowers in that way. I hope you find yours soon! I know they don't grow well in CA. (Curious where you grew up, was it a cooler climate?).
Enjoy them when you find them! 💜
I grew up in Los Angeles and cannot begin to imagine where this mythical lilac farm was actually located.
I know that they are usually considered to grow better in cooler climates, however, Lilacs seem to grow well at Filoli, which is not far from my current house. I’m looking forward to designing the garden at our Berkeley house this fall… and just might have to look into acquiring a small lilac tree…
Hey! My name's Torrie, and I'm actually a flower farmer, so I just wanted to share some tricks with you about lilacs! If you follow these steps, you should get more like a 6-7 day vase life from yours. First, always harvest when it's pretty cool -- ideally early in the morning. Harvest directly into cool water. Then, strip as much foliage as possible -- anything you leave on, the stem has to work harder to hydrate, so try to just leave flowers. Then, snip vertically up the bottom of the stem and twist one of the stem halves up so it forms a right angle, then plunge the bottom 3" or so of the stem into boiling water, or take an open flame to it until it starts to change color. Then put it in a cool, dark room for a few hours to condition. If you do this, you should get more like a week out of your lilacs!
Thanks so much for this comment, Torrie! So kind to share knowledge, very generous of you. I'll definitely try to adopt more of these.
I have read about the cutting stem method, but it just seems so fiddly to me--and hard with thin stems (perhaps I should see if there is a video on YouTube or somewhere). What I do is to just bash the stems with a hammer, which opens up the fibers to absorb more water. I think it accomplishes pretty much the same thing.
How exciting that you are flower farming. Where are you located? I bet you create all sorts of beauty ❤️
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!
I'm located in Utah :) So, funny story -- I used to follow your Tea & Cookies blog years ago, but then lost track of you when you stopped. I own (and love!) your book, Orchard House. So imagine my happiness when I discovered you here! Creating more beauty in the world is our whole farm's mission. While it is a LOT of work and has plenty of hard moments, it really is a beautiful life. If you're on IG, I'm there @dreamacreflowerfarm, or I also have a blog: www.toloveandtolearn.com, where I post pictures from our farm pretty regularly (only if you care to see what it looks like -- no pressure to follow either one). So glad to have found you again!
When a child in the 50’s in Chicago, our neighbor, Mrs. Williams, had huge lilac trees on her property. When they bloomed, all the children in the neighborhood would go to her house and she would cut and wrap bunches for us and we brought them to our teachers. For days, our elementary school smelled so beautiful. I never see a lilac, I don’t think of her.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing this story! How absolutely beautiful, I love thinking of all the children coming over and all the teachers and school hallways scented with flowers. What a lovely memory.
And now I think I'm going to cut some bouquets of lilacs and bring them to neighbors. Thanks for the inspiration! 💜