Monday, May 30, 2011

Lilac Festival/ My World

Lilacs at side of a country road, East Gwillimbury

Wild lilacs are blooming NOW. Aren't they lovely? Lilacs were brought from Europe by early settlers and are now naturalized along many country roads. Wild and wonderful.

I also appreciate cultivated varieties, and while visiting relatives in Rochester, New York last week, I visited the Rochester Lilac Festival.

Highland Park, Rochester, New York, U.S.A.

We walked along the side of the hill in Highland Park and viewed many of the more than 500 varieties of lilacs planted there.

Banners lined the road outside the park

The festival had officially closed the day before, but the banners were still up and many of the lilacs still beautiful, a few still in bud almost ready to bloom.

 White lilacs with large florets

Signs on or near many lilacs identified the various varieties

A lovely pink variety not yet in full bloom

I am linking to My World.

56 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful. I do need to get out and take some new photos.

Kathy said...

The aroma must be nearly overwhelming. I can't imagine that many lilacs in one area.

Unknown said...

I can smell them now! Lovely!

Leovi said...

Nice pictures of lilacs. Greetings.

Kaori said...

The fragrance of the lilacs must be wonderful as well! Beautiful photos :D

Jenny said...

Lilacs are one of my favorites. This sounds absolutely glorious. I can imagine the scent in the air. Must have been heavenly.

TexWisGirl said...

wow. that must have been intoxicating... :)

Judy said...

Oh my goodness...I would have been in heaven there. Our neighbor I just found out has a white lilac bush. I wonder if she'll mind if I clip off a few blooms :)

One Photo said...

How wonderful! Beautiful photos. That must be such a wonderful sight and I can only imagine how amazing the fragrance of all those blooms must be.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and for your lovely comments.

VioletSky said...

How lovely. I am just off to the RBG, now that it has stopped raining. I was at Rochester two years ago and I think I almost preferred their festival over ours. I have to go back to make sure.

Cezar and Léia said...

It's a dream! Imagine, a whole festival about beauty and colors, this flower is magnificent!
Léia

Penelope Notes said...

What a bountiful bunch of lilacs everywhere in your world! I see them blooming in my world also this time of year. This is one of my favorite flowers for fragrance. It is heavenly to stop and smell a lilac during a walk in my neighborhood and yours!

Carver said...

The wild lilacs are fantastic. I also think it would be fun to go to the festival and see the different cultivated ones. Great shots.

Chuck Pefley said...

I can almost smell the lovely fragrance -:)

Judy said...

How I would love to be in among all those sweet beauties! I have some in my yard but most years the buds get frozen and no flowers bloom as they did this year. The fragrance must have been heavenly!

Darla said...

I really like lilacs and they don't grow well in our area so it is especially nice to see these. The purple ones are my favorites.

Darla

RedPat said...

The smells must have been fabulous!

Lynette Killam said...

Oh, how lovely! We don't have a Lilac Festival here in B.C., but their blooms are definitely my favourite part of spring. I'm inhaling the secent of my own blossoms as I type, gathered from trees started from cuttings given to me many years ago by my mother-in-law. They are both sweet and sentimental...:)

B i r g i t t a said...

Oh - wow! I almost feel the fragrance :) That is something I miss when I am in Budapest.

Janine Bollée said...

Nice one, EG.
Great idea to group them all together for a show. You were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Sylvia K said...

Oh, I do love lilacs and their wonderful fragrance! Your photos are gorgeous as always! I could almost smell them from here! Have a wonderful week!

Sylvia

Unknown said...

So much beauty! Thanks for sharing it.

Paula said...

The colors are wonderful, but the white lilacs really caught my eye. Beautiful images!

Crafty Green Poet said...

how beautiful, i love lilacs, such beautiful colours and scents!

Karen said...

I love wild lilacs. I bet the scent was intoxicating.

Fotokarusellen said...

A beautiful set of images, just very beautiful. Well done!

Unknown said...

Lilacs never seem to have made a deep impression here. I wonder if it's an ethnic difference with settlement here from eastern Europe to work in the mines, and from Quebec for the same reason. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

Kay L. Davies said...

Wonderful photos. Like Karen, I can imagine the scent! My lilacs are just beginning to bloom now, and I plan to take my camera out when my husband and the dog get back from their walk.
— K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Kim, USA said...

I had the pink variety and it rebloom in the middle of summer till Fall.
Boomerang Lilac

Janie said...

I love the scent of lilacs and the beauty of the blooms. How nice to have large numbers of them blooming wild.

SandyCarlson said...

I love these. I spent the day at my parents', where I enjoyed the fragrance in the humid summery air. Wonderful stuff.

Jack said...

I am a fan of lilacs. We have had some lilac bushes in every house I have lived in. The colors and the fragrances are terrific, and they arrive at a time of year when we most need them.

Ruth Hiebert said...

Lilacs are so gorgeous and also fragrant.This festival must be a lovely place.

Becky said...

One can never ever get enough Lilacs! That fragrance is to die for!. Beautiful flowers too.
B

George said...

Thank you for sharing these beautiful lilacs with us -- I only wish you could share the fragrance as well. One of my earliest memories is of the lilac bushes at the side of the house where I lived with my parents before starting school.

stardust said...

I love lilacs. Unfortunately there’s no place with so many gorgeous lilacs in my neighborhood. I feel sweet fragrance wafting from the photos. Blooming flowers are lovely and the ones on the verge of blooming are special to me with their deeper colors. Thank you for sharing.

Elisa N Viajes said...

So, so beautiful!
Thanks and have a nice week

Lindy said...

I would imagine the fragrance was magnificent! Lovely, lovely images!

Barb said...

I would be in Heaven walking through all these Lilacs! What a heady experience!

Unknown said...

oh, how beautiful! i haven't lilacs here, not sure if we can grow them.

Barbara said...

Lovely captures of the lilacs. My lilacs were plentifull this year as well and smelled as good as they looked. Have a great week.

Unknown said...

500 varieties of lilacs, wow that is a lot. I love white lilacs but everything goes, I have purple lilacs. That park must been wonderful:)

Arija said...

Oh, for just a whiff of that magnificent scent! I have terraces of lilacs in our mountain garden and whenever they are full of blooms, we get a hailstorm and I rush out just before and cut bucketfulls for old people from Europe who live at sea level and miss the joys of their youth.

Great photos.

Fjällripan said...

Wonderful lilacs! They are not blooming here jet, but soon. LOve the smell of them! Have a great day!

Small City Scenes said...

Gorgeous!! I love Lilacs---they are all in bloom here too. They smell so good. Very nice shots too. MB

snowwhite said...

Lilacs seem to be most suitable and perfect flowers in this time of the year. I love their subtle shades of colors. More than 500 varieties of lilacs planted there!
Lilacs must be the most loved flower in your country!

Regina said...

Pretty and delightful world!
Love all.

cieldequimper said...

Hmmmm, ah the perfume!

Lowell said...

These are all growing wild? Yikes. That is amazing. What beautiful scenery driving down a country road. I'd probably drive right into the ditch!

Cassie said...

I adore lilacs! My 4 little bushes are coming along (Planted in 2005) but nothing like these fabulous giants.

kayerj said...

very pretty--I love the way lilacs smell. they are blooming here as well.

Francisca said...

Taking a deep breath to take it all in. These lilacs, and your captures of them, are so lovely. Here they are all gone already. So are the tulips long gone.

Tammy said...

Hey, you're in my neck of the woods. We are only about 35 miles away, and can you believe I have never been to the Lilac Festival?!

Of course, in my defense, It always rains ;)

Rose said...

I just wish they stayed in bloom longer....I love the blooms for their looks, and I totally love the smell!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, aren't they? But they make my eyes water worse than any other plant. No lilac-scented anything for me. So seeing your lovely photos is absolutely the best way for me to enjoy them.

Powell River Books said...

My grandmother had a lilac planted outside her bedroom window. I loved the smell on warm evenings. Beautiful, and growing wild. How wonderful. - Margy

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.