As we do every May Eve, my daughter and I went out last night at midnight and wandered around our neighborhood in the dark, armed with bags and clippers, looking for fragrant flowers in the parkways and the alleyways (where we consider them fair game). This year, to our astonishment, there were no lilacs in bloom (except at the very top of the bushes where we couldn't reach them). We brought home a few buds hoping to force them in the warmth of our house but with no success. This tells me that spring is truly late this year (I've been refusing to believe it, since other flowers, like the daffodils, bloomed on time.) The only May flower which is blooming on time is the sweet woodruff, the plant traditionally used to flavor May wine.
The picture of the little basket is from last year when we had a better haul, and shows one of the offerings we left on all the doorknobs in our apartment building. This year we simply filled all the vases in our apartment.
Are your May Day flowers blooming on time or are they late, like ours?
4 comments:
I'm in north central West Virginia, where the lilacs came in full and a bit early.
Everything is about 2 weeks early.
We're on the edge of the Allegheny Plateau, between south-central and Great Lakes weather patterns, so it can be a bit unpredicatable here. The garden is half "started," but I think the last frost scare was the night before last.
None of our flowers are even close yet. We're in north Colorado.
Finally, just about three days too late for May Day, the lilacs are blooming. Also went and checked on my favorite lily of the valley plant. It grows against a south-facing brick wall near the library and it's in full bloom as well. But the hawthorn is still in the bud stage. Often it's in full flower on May Day. Just saw my first Oriental poppy in bloom today.
My parents' lilacs were late this year, and now they're wilted. :( Oh well, there's other, perfectly fine flowers in our yard.
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