A few years ago, I got a bee in my bonnet about beautifying our landscaping. I couldn’t just choose a few plants, oh no. I bought books, cross-referenced them, and drew plans to scale on graph paper. I did everything “right,” including planning the beds for the mature size of the plants I’d chosen, not the size at the time of planting. Somehow the bed on the side still ended up an overgrown jungle within three years and every single perennial in the front bed died, leaving it pretty sparse.
The best thing I did was select a Miss Kim Lilac for the corner of the front bed by the porch. Lilacs remind me of home, but aren’t very prevalent here in the…South (I live in the South–eek!). The Miss Kim was billed as a lilac for more southern zones. And it’s super fragrant, so when I sit on my porch while it’s in bloom (now!), the breeze brings the scent to me and makes me feel happy. This variety also stays relatively small, so I like to call it Miss Lil’ Kim, but it doesn’t look like this:
No, this is the Miss (Lil’) Kim of which type:
Much prefer the Ms. Kim Lilac to the human version.
The image of her breast just hanging out there is embedded in my brain permanently, damn it.
Me too 🙂 But gosh I love me some lilacs! I don’t have any here. I am envious!
I can’t get the image of a bunch of Lil’ Miss Kims hanging out in front of your porch. I love lilacs- it’s the best smell and they’re so beautiful.
It’s like Lil’ Kim wore purple that day just to match my future blog post.
This is exactly what impressed me most…the way you got her to coordinate with your plans to one day speak of her in the same breath as lilacs. Divas are rarely so cooperative!
I have to agree that I much prefer the photos of your beautiful tree. I love lilacs and the smell. It’s something that I’ve really grown fond of in the Midwest. I had some bushes planted on our property because I love to see them in the spring. They are everywhere right now.
Jen, I had to rescue this comment from spam…WordPress is mysterious sometimes. Lilacs are popular where I’m from but don’t do as well where I live now. I miss them a lot. There’s one big plant on my way to the subway and while it’s in bloom, I always stop and smell it each way on my commute.
Yummy! Lilacs are my favorite flower on the planet. I just wish they would last more than two hours in a vase.
Seriously…I remember that Diana Ross-Lil’ Kim moment lit up the internet. Photo ops like those only come around once in a lifetime.
We had a huge lilac bush in our backyard when I was little. It was prolific enough that we could cut some to bring inside. And there’s a big lilac festival where I went to college. Someday I want to visit there again. I miss lilacs.
I was torn about that boob incident. On the one hand, I think Diana was basically just saying, “you don’t need to dress like that,” which is a good message. But I also think no one should touch you, not even Diana Ross, without permission, no matter how you’re dressed. Just so weird.
Very pretty, I love lilacs!!!!!!!!! So sorry your perennials died 🙁 I’m starting a huge gardening project now, hoping they will survive! I have no idea what I want yet though and it’s still not time to do the beds. But I know I want roses and lavender.
I’m too chicken to try roses, we kill too many of our plants already. It’s a mystery to me: we bought three azaleas and planted them all in the same area and treated them all the same, but one is thriving while the other two barely cling to life. My husband says, “sometimes plants just die,” but that’s not very satisfying. At least my lilac seems happy.
I love everything about this post.
Thanks, Jill!
I adore lilacs except for the fact that I can’t them to survive for more than 30 minutes after being cut. I want a vase at my bedside but waking up in the morning and seeing them dead is not the best wake-up.