There are several large lilac bushes behind our house. I love lilacs, so this was a big factor when we were buying the house. They don’t always bloom very much—you get much better flowers when you keep the bushes cut way back—but the last couple of years have been real humdingers.
I’m told that a good lilac spring follows a particularly wet winter. Whatever the reason, the past two Mays have made our yard a perfumed purple paradise. Otis was as excited about the fauna as I was about the flora.