Lilacs are in bloom now, and have been for a while. Back in my childhood/youth I used to associate lilacs with the end of the school year, i.e. the first week of June or so.These days they seem to come into bloom at least a couple of weeks earlier.
Even scientists seem to agree that spring does start earlier than it used to; connected to global warming.
Do you have the same feeling where you live, connected to memories of your own?
I agree with you. Cherry blossom and Rhododendrons come into flower much earlier these days.
ReplyDeleteNorthsider, it does seem to apply world-wide.
DeleteA Lilac header! It is gorgeous! We had a large beautiful Lilac bush right outside our back door. But after many years it got sick and we had to cut it down. I can still smell them in my mind.
ReplyDeleteGinny, it is a smell not easily forgotten, isn't it!
DeleteYes, I’ve noticed the same shift—what once marked the end of the school year now feels like an early prelude, and it’s striking how deeply seasonal memories anchor us in time even as the seasons themselves quietly shift.
ReplyDeleteRo, that's interesting to know, as you're on the other side of the globe!
DeleteAll lilac blossoms have been gone for weeks here (we know that your and my place have usually a "gap" of about 2 weeks at least), but they were very beautiful this year.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, my favourite neighbour (an old lady who died last year) mentioned how all through her childhood and youth, she always had a bowl of cherries for her birthday on the 6th of July sitting on the table, freshly picked by her parents from the tree in their garden.
By the time we got to know each other, it was almost too late for cherries when her birthday came round, but I did manage for a few years (after particularly cold springs) to give her a bowl from my own tree. Now, at the end of May, the cherries on my tree are already as big as kidney beans (only the wrong shape), and no doubt will be long past their best when July comes round.
Meike, yes, you do seem to be at least a couple of weeks ahead of us in spring/summer. We didn't have a cherry tree in our garden in my childhood. My p. grandparents did have one, but it was old and gave very little fruit, so I have no personal memory of when cherries used to ripen.
DeleteWe have noticed the same here. Plants are flowering around two weeks earlier than they used to a few years ago
ReplyDeleteI think we're too far south for Lilac, (I'll check in the garden centre) but I noticed the Jacarandas in the streets in town were a mass of flowers. We really don't seem to have a great deal of difference to mark the change of seasons, but this year my one lone surviving rose has bloomed continually throughout the winter. Just two or three blooms at a time in January and February, but now it must have more than a dozen blooms and three full-blown flowers!
ReplyDeleteCarol, I can imagine the difference being less noticeable in a warmer climate.
Deleteso beautiful, here in Florida we don't notice the changes much, but I can see how yours changes just by years and years of following our bl og
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