Lilac Quest

Victoria Day weekend. According to garden centres in town, this is the long weekend people start working on their gardens. I didn't know there was such a protocol. This weekend, I joined forces with my neighbour and stole away to the garden centre together in the middle of the day.

When we create our lives, we put into it the things, activities, thoughts and people that we like. Sometimes, we go into new, unexplored areas. Oftentimes, we rely on what's tried and true, especially what's familiar from our childhood. No different when we create our gardens.

At the garden centre, my neighbour and I wandered through the rows of plants, shrubs, and trees, each looking for a new experience in cultivated growth, while hoping to run into a bit of our past. Neither of us really knew what we were looking for. Neighbour relied on the little information sticks that come with each potted plant, that of pictures of flowers in full bloom. What else do I have to go by? she rationalized. I looked at those tags too, but for information on sun requirement and size of plant when full grown. I had woodland plants in mind.

And then, we saw it, our common quest. We saw the lilac trees. Some were already in bloom. We inhaled. It was a blast from the past, with a hint of the future. Neighbour's father grows lilacs and roses in his garden. He gave her a rose bush last year, but she's always wanted a lilac tree. Only, she's never bought one because her husband is allergic to lilacs.

When my family first came to Canada, we lived in a house that had lilacs in the back. Everyone had lilacs in their backyards. In fact, lilacs were in many front yards, street corners and public parks too. As a 10-year-old making my own way across town from summer school, I often followed my own lilac trail on city streets and in back lanes. Those were fragrant days of carefree meandering, discovering the different ways home in the big city. Over the years, many lilacs disappeared as the city grew bigger.

This weekend, Neighbour and I each bought a lilac treeling. Lilac vulgaris, the most common and most fragrant variety of lilacs. She took her plant into her garden and put in the very back, as far away from the house as possible. She said to her husband, It's just a plant. I rearranged my garden, again, and put it in the only sunny spot the garden has.

Now we tend the plants. This year's planting has barely begun. Already we await next year's bloom.