We love the native plants. Yes we do. In fact, we recently purchased from The Wilderness Center’s Native Plant Sale. The Little Lady Lilac, a favorite, is a trademarked perennial flowering shrub that is not native to Ohio or the United States. 🙄 But we still love it anyway.

The Little Lady Lilac in our yard is now over 4 feet tall. It blooms in late spring (during the week of May 10th this year) and produces cluster of pink fragrant flowers. These flowers have the most incredible scent and when its caught by a breeze, it travels into our open windows. From the web:

The scent is often compared to a mix of almond and rose, with a hint of honey and jasmine-like freshness.

That description is fairly accurate. However, I smelled jasmine for the first time last year when I visited the Franklin Park Conservatory. Although the lilacs are a treat to inhale, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that resembles the scent of jasmine.

This year I cut some of the home-grown lilacs to intentionally bring the scent into the house. 

Sadly, the flower blooms are only around a short while before the blossoms fall and the scent is a fond memory until the next season. This year, we will collect the seeds and plant these bee-attracting, scent-spreading beauties in containers around the house next year. If you’re interested in doing the same, here are some seed collecting pointers:

• When the flowers fall off and the seed pods dry out, the seed pods are considered mature.
• Lilac seed pods will then begin to open, revealing the seeds.
• Collect the entire flower head or just the seeds, which are around half a centimeter wide.
• Store the seeds in a cool dark place or do what we do—stratify them by keeping them in the freezer for up to 3 months. One suggestion is to add potting mixture to the bag with the seeds. That simulates the wintry conditions that the plant experiences in nature.

In spring 2026, give us a shout and we will gladly share some of our seeds with you.

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🌷🌸🌹🌺🌼🥀💐🌻

Like the kids pictured in the photo, we find joy in every sniff so we will continue to stop and smell the lilacs (and the roses too, whenever they bloom).

Shop various flowers at ColorBlindWork | People. Plants. Purpose. Let’s grow something—beautiful!