Last weekend, as I was loading up the car to drive back to the city from Darlington House, I found a basket of spring flowers waiting for me on the brick terrace in front of our kitchen door.
Boy had filled the basket, a trug really, with
purple and white lilacs cut from our property and a dozen parrot tulips bought the day before at the farmers market in the nearby town.
I was so taken by the flowers' simple beauty that I asked Boy to photograph them, so I could remember them.
Lilacs are probably my favorite flower—well, at least they are among my top three favorites, which would also include
peonies and garden roses. I admit I am also rather partial to parrot tulips—so lush and elemental, verging upon the bizarre.
But how could one choose favorites among these lovely flowers? They are so beautiful and plump, and heady with perfumed fragrance. One is grateful for them, and for one's life when one is so fortunate to have their company, however fleeting it may be.
photographs by Boy Fenwick
I am a big lilac fancier as well. Something about the short season makes them much prized in my eyes -- like sour cherries. You can get those long branches of French lilac off-season but they have no scent. How mad is that? I am still working on my recipe for lilac jelly... trying to capture heaven in a jar. My first attempt was the best a few years ago but I haven't been able to replicate it. As I write I am inhaling the perfume of a big bunch of them nearby. HEAVEN.
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky to have someone so thoughtful in your life, someone who leaves baskets of perfect flowers on your doorstep to surprise and delight. They are terribly lovely.
do you have any luck in keeping lilacs in a vase for more than 24 hours. more than half of the time, they're completely wilted by morning.
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do wish we could grow lilacs here in Southeast...so generous with their blooms. Beautiful collection of blooms
ReplyDeleteI love Lilacs as well. Being French my heart melts for muguet (lily of the valley) that we give to each other on May 1st as a sign of friendship. Do you like muguet?
ReplyDeleteThose tulips are gorgeous - I like the range of colors, especially the pink and green. They remind me of Victorian china.
ReplyDeleteRoadside Wildflowers blooming lately are a delight. Cut flowers from the garden are wonderful. School children walking home from school plucking wildflowers from county right of ways are not helpful to the reseeding for next Spring's display. Indeed this would be a tough lesson to learn. Hopefully some smart cookie will see plucking the flowers means fewer flowers to make for a pleasant drive to or from work. I hope the slogan Keep America Beautiful is revived. Please breathe some air into that -- Keep America Beautiful. Please don't pick the Daisies. Plant a tree for arbor day. Oh my this is Friday it has been a long week. Forgive me. I think people should plant a flower garden buy some pots and transplant some garden center flowers to add color to your world. the butterflies and bees will thank you
ReplyDeleteLilacs for me! The smell is exceptional and makes me want to bury my nose in the blooms. Bees, unfortunately, have the same idea.
ReplyDeleteParrot tulips- My absolute favorite flower- neck and neck with Bearded Iris- they are both so exuberant and the wilder the colors and shapes, the better I like them-
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful arrangement of flowers. I can see exactly why you had Boy photograph them. Parrot Tulips are among my favorite flowers, as are narcissus, old-fashioned garden roses and heavenly scented sweet peas.
ReplyDeleteLife is full of such moments of fleeting beauty and if they can be captured as beautifully as Boy's photographs, well, we are all the more fortunate for it.
You should open up a florist or some sort of shop that I could come to. I know you would have lots of customers. Everything you do is stunning.
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How thoughtful of Boy to leave these 'gifts' from nature for you to find.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a fondness for parrot tulips whether in Dutch/Flemish paintings, in the garden, or in a casual arrangement in vase. They look especially wonderful as they continue growing and arch over, like graceful ballerinas.
With nowhere to grow them in our little courtyard, I must rely on the potted ones. Better 'half a loaf' than no loaf', if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor!
Have a lovely weekend, you and Boy.
April, Just Verte Style
Reggie
ReplyDeleteThank you and Boy for the lovely photos of the flowers. Most of all thank you for being "you" and always thinking of your readers and sharing your wonderful life...
I am an avid reader from the day you began and look forward to many days ahead.
Becky in Georgia
Reggie, the divine scent of fresh country flowers is heavenly! I love how you featured them here. Flowers are a luxury we should all indulge ourselves in...when the roses wilt, one can use the petals for a variety of romantic effects, such as covering the bed before one's lover hops into it!
ReplyDeleteOh! I forgot to congratulate you on your recent feature in the Digest. I've only seen it online so I will have to go and buy a copy!
ReplyDeleteI have been hearing so much about Regge Darling lately from all of my blogger friends AND reading about Darling House in AD (!!) that I just had to stop in and say "hello"! I am so glad I did! I look forward to many more visits and have linked to my blog so I can spread the wealth! And lilacs are my favorite too....Ta ta!
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ReplyDeletemore dolphins ...plus a putti
I didnt know of parrott tulips before though I recognise them from Carolyne Roehm's book. You must be glad spring is here ..we are now supposedly in Autumn though it's unseasonably warm !
Parrot tulips are a favourite but hard to fine; lilacs wonderful! Peonies, the best...
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have a TRUG full of flowers awaiting your departure!
ReplyDeleteBoy, is VERY thoughtful!
Lilacs and Peonies are my favorites also. I agree with Deana that you are so fortunate to have a partner so thoughtful as Boy to leave such beautiful surprises for you. Did you take them to the city to enjoy there? Hope you had a good visit with Meg (you two are my favorite bloggers).
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, I cannot imagine that children gathering a few flowers along the paths to their homes are going to deny a future harvest of wild flowers. I would certainly never discourage a child from doing such. Fifty years ago, I would spend my summer afternoons gathering "black-eyed Susans" (probably not the correct name) from the street sides and occasional vacant lots of Folly Beach, South Carolina, where my family lived for several years. Those simple yellow petals bestowed with little black button centers were always taken in bundles to my mother or grandmother. This afternoon, while driving backroads of the lowcountry, my wife and I saw one field after another of them. I have always said that when I die, all I want for flowers are the likes of those spread over my grave -- and maybe a couple of mason jars filled with them at the tombstone! Your photographs were splendid.
ReplyDeleteLove the colours of the parrot tulips.
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