Lilacs (Syringa) / SkyWatch Friday

 

Intense blue sky today (Thursday 28 May). I went for a walk in the afternoon to post a birthday card. Along a side street I passed, I noticed this house surrounded by an incredible "hedge" of lilacs (syringa) in bloom. (In Swedish we call them syrén.) In the background you can see that there are lilacs all along the opposite side of the garden as well. 

Yesterday, I also took the photos below of a "cluster" of lilacs in the old cemetery. Standing there, it did look to me like branches with two different colours of flowers are actually coming from the same trunk down at the bottom. Not all easy to tell! - but googling it now, AI informs me that lilacs can indeed be grafted:

Yes, lilac trees can be grafted. In fact, many commercial "tree form" lilacs (where a shrub is grafted high onto a single trunk) and unique multicolored varieties are produced this way. Grafting is done to change the plant's growth habit, control its size, or combine multiple flower colors onto a single base.

A bit more about Syringa (Lilacs), from Wikipedia:

Lilacs are small trees, ranging in size from 2 to 10 metres (6+1⁄2 to 33 ft) tall, with stems up to 20 to 30 centimetres (8 to 12 in) diameter.

The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or "lilac"), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found.

The genus Syringa was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and the description was published in Species Plantarum. 

 The genus name Syringa is derived from Ancient Greek word syrinx meaning "pipe" or "tube" and refers to the hollow branches of one species. - The English common name "lilac" comes from the French lilac. 

Linking to Skywatch Friday

SkyWatch & Progress of Spring

 

19 May 2026 - 21:05

Tuesday evening offered this sunset view from my balcony. 

Yesterday, Thursday, was dominated by grey skies and rain showers. I had to walk into town for a dentist appointment at 11 am, to get my new crown put in place. So I both put on my rain coat and brought a foldable umbrella; but fortunately (also managing my walking stick with the other hand) did not need to have the umbrella up much... 

At the the north-west entrance to the city park, I found rhododendron in bloom; and down by the river in the park, the huge old horse chestnut trees were in bloom:

The dentist appointment went well. I got a bit worried initially, because when they first put the new crown in to see how it fitted, it did feel to me like it would not fit at all... But of course they fixed that; and in the end I once again walked out of there a satisfied customer/patient. (I've been with the same dental practice for 35+ years. My old dentist retired a few years ago, but the new one soon earned my trust as well.) 

On the way back home I walked a different way, did not need my umbrella, and found some more rhododendron in bloom. The wooden door in the photo below sits in the wall of a cemetery (not the cemetery where I usually walk, but an even older one, closer to the city centre and park).

Today the clouds broke up in favour of a clear blue sky again. I've had some indoor things to do but have also been out for two shorter walks. Before lunch, my usual Friday "recycling" walk + stopping by a small local shop on the way back for a few things. 

On the way, noticing that the lilacs are now in bloom:

And in the afternoon, a walk to the nearby cemetery to check on the progess of the azaleas there:

 

Linking to SkyWatch Friday

Lilacs and Global Warming

May 16

 

May 16

May 24

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?

Lilac Time

The three photos above are from some lilac bushes I can see from my windows.

For me, lilacs in bloom are forever associated with the end of the school year and the start of the summer holidays - a week or two into the month of June. This year, summer decided to arrive early, though. It's making me feel very confused about Time... My calendar says May, but my impressions from nature and the very warm and summery weather we've been having this past week or two says June! 

 I'm fascinated by this tree in the cemetery because it has lilacs of two different shades growing on the same tree. I'm thinking that grafting must have been involved.

Lots and lots of lilacs growing on a slope by the railway, also not far from where I live.

 

So much happening in Nature at the moment that I'm having a hard time catching up. And it's too hot in my study to sit at the computer for very long at a time!

Azaleas for Ascension Day

Today is Ascension Day (nearly over when I write this) - the 40th day of Easter, still a public holiday here (marked with red in our calendars) and always on a Thursday. It hasn't quite felt like a holiday here today though, because while I had been looking forward to an extra "quiet" day - without Men at Work on the roof and running up and down the ladder outside my study - they had obviously decided to ignore this holiday and carry on with the job as usual. That surprised me a bit - even if I know that some places of work, like supermarkets, never close on red days any more.

Well, never mind. (They weren't all that noisy - it just made me look twice at the calendar!) For my own part I didn't really have anything special planned. It's been a rainy week and after two days of hardly having set foot outdoors, I managed a walk during an afternoon break in the rain, though. Just my usual walk around the old cemetery - but that did turn out to offer some "extraordinary" beauty, as the azaleas, rhododendron and lilacs have just come into bloom:

Mosaic Monday: Lilacs & Rhododendron

A rather chilly spring and early summer here this year has meant an unusually long flowering season for some plants - for example lilacs and rhododenron. In the old graveyard where I often go for a walk, I found these two intertwined – a dark purple lilac tree, and a tall pale rhododendron, with its petals now dropping to the ground like snow. (This was Friday last week.)

Mosaic Monday

FMTSO: Feeling of Summer

For me, ever since my own childhood, lilacs in bloom (and that scent in the air) is very much associated with the beginning of summer. This week in June is also the end of the school year in Sweden; and the beginning of the summer holidays (for the children lasting from now until mid August or so).

Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

~Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine~

Lilacs and Shoes

There is an often quoted phrase or story in Sweden about a shoemaker who in the month of May put up a sign on his door saying “closed between bird cherry blossoms and lilacs” (‘stängt mellan hägg och syren’). Well, the shoemaker did not get a very long holiday this year. I noticed Bird cherry blossoms last week and now the lilacs are out too!

We’re still enjoying summery temperatures here - actually some of us are already beginning to complain a little about the heat! Not very serious complaints yet, since the novelty of it is still welcome after the long winter! But hot enough now to make many want to seek shadow rather than sun in the afternoon…

The indoors temperature in my flat (and so I suppose most of the others in this neighbourhood) reached 26° Celsius yesterday, which is just about the limit for what I feel “comfortable” with. This morning with open balcony door it’s down to 24 on the shady side though, so “so far so good”.

But in the afternoon hours when the sun hits the balcony, even with the parasols up it gets much too hot out there. And in the Study as well.

Yesterday I went outside for a while and sat in one of the gazebos in the park.

What is bothering me at the moment is that longer walks are out of the question this weekend because of a blister I got from a new pair of shoes the other day. They seemed soooo comfortable at first… but then after walking into town in them… I got this blister in an unexpected place on top of the foot. Yesterday I thought I’d be okay with a band aid and different kinds of shoes when walking to the supermarket. But when I got back home I was bleeding… ouch.  So I guess I do best in “putting my feet up” over the weekend, letting it heal properly…  Meanwhile, I’ve also put a pair of shoe blocks in the shoes, hoping that will stretch them!

A piece of good news is that for the first time since my additional eye problem two months ago, I’m reading a book on paper again  - The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. I have an audio book going too, though.