Gardening

Lilacs Outside My Window 

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d
by Walt Whitman

“When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d, 
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, 
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring. 

Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.”

A Yellow Tulip Smile 

The Tulip Bed

“The May sun—whom
all things imitate—
that glues small leaves to
the wooden trees
shone from the sky
through blue gauze clouds
upon the ground. 
Under the leafy trees
where the suburban streets
lay crossed,
with houses on each corner,
tangled shadows had begun
to join
the roadway and the lawns. 
With excellent precision
the tulip bed
inside the iron fence
upreared its gaudy
yellow, white, and red,
rimmed round with grass,
reposedly.”
~ William Carlos Williams

The Hopeful Romantic Hyacinth

HYACINTH 

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

“I am in love with him
To whom a hyacinth is dearer
Than I shall ever be dear. 
On nights when the field-mice
Are abroad, he cannot sleep. 
He hears their narrow teeth 
At the bulbs of his hyacinths. 
But the gnawing at my heart…
He does not hear.”

Magnolias Are Petal Pink Perfection 

What beauty and magnificence has spread across the Indiana countryside. When the magnolia buds first appear, their cone-shape is quite appealing to wild animals. Sometimes the lower branches show evidence of being nibbled upon. As soon as the sweet flowers appear, the entire tree is a vision of crinoline resembling the hooped petticoat of a Southern belle. The petal pink flowers often mark the beginning of Summer. Without a doubt, magnolias are a symbol of perseverance!