Sunday, tomorrow, is Mother’s Day and the Arnold Arboretum‘s famous Lilac Sunday. The thing about nature is that, not unlike my mother, myself and my daughter, it does things it’s own way. There is not much you can do to steer it in another direction. So, Lilac Sunday can be a bit of a hit or a miss. This year, the lilacs are in bloom, perhaps not in full bloom, but plenty of trees have flowered. The scent is intoxicating as well. For Lilac Sunday there will be food trucks for a fun lunch or an early dinner on site and as you will see below, there are plenty of flowers and plants to take in. It doesn’t have to just be all about the lilacs.
The Hunnewell Visitor Center is a beautiful building. Even when the building is closed the doors are open for access to bathrooms and a water fountain and spigot to refill water bottles.
A little reminder that this is part of a University and that beyond beauty these flowers are here to be studied and to learn from. I have a long way to go just learning the names of the flowers.
I don’t know what this tree is, but I remember seeing that it a tree native to Afghanistan. From a distance it reminds me of a cherry blossom tree but as you get closer you notice something very different about the blossoms.
The blossoms grow right on the bark of the tree branches. Unlike most flowering trees familiar to me where the buds and flowers are at the tender ends of newly sprouted branches.
I love the ombre of the green in this upside-down skirt-like leaves.
Lilac buds
The lilac trees are beginning to bloom and the few hot days this week probably helped them bloom even further this week. I took this photo on Monday. The scent is intoxicating.
A little bud.
Even old dry flowers that seemed to have survived winter, but I can’t imagine that’s possible, have beauty in their skeleton like shape.
Author: Leah Klein
Leah is a writer, recipe developer, amateur photographer and city living expert. She raises her family in Boston and travels with them as often as they can.
