Paeonia mlokosewitschii

April showers bring May Flowers

How true. The cherries have finished blooming and the trees are leafing out. It is now on to the next wave of blooming plants. The neighborhoods are a riot of color; filled with hybrids of our state flowers, the Rhododendron.

It is interesting living in the suburb. Many of the yards still have some of the original plants used for landscaping. Another example of a bulk purchase – similar plants. “Unique” is no long a unique Rhododendron in the neighborhood. Everyone seems to have one. If it isn’t Unique, then it is either ‘Mrs Furnival’ or ‘Hino Crimson’ evergreen azalea.

Lilacs are also in bloom. Their scent is perfuming the neighborhood. White, lilac and dark magenta in color. Lilacs are bittersweet for me. They herald the height of spring but also bring memories of a good friend who died of breast cancer in 2002, Surain. She was the same age as I am when she died in spring of 2002. I never knew the origin of her name until her memorial service. There was a lovely wreath of lilac and roses. Before she was born, her father had walked around the garden with a relative from Sweden identifying the names of the plants in Swedish. They came to a lilac bush and he said “Syren”. He thought this would be a wonderful name for a girl and from the phonetic spelling came Surain. She was such a vibrant person. I miss her.

The peonies are also coming in bloom. The early
Paeonia mlokosewitschii is in full bloom. The other peonies are budded and should be in bloom in a couple more weeks.