Nineteenth Century Heroines: Seeding the Future

Lilacs are a lovely flower—the scent, the color, the way they hang like plump grapes. It was a love of flowers and growing things in general that led this nineteenth century heroine to become a renowned hybridizer, developing more than 14 varieties of lilacs still treasured around the world.

Hulda Klager was born in 1863 in Germany. She was a toddler when her family immigrated to America, eventually settling in Woodland, Washington, about a half hour north of Portland, Oregon, along the I-5 corridor. They owned a farm, and Hulda grew up to marry a farmer. After reading a book by Luther Burbank about hybridizing and decided to experiment with apples. She hated having to peel so many of them to make a pie. She crossed a Wolf River apple with a Bismark and discovered a larger, delicious apple. She tried dahlias and roses as well. A couple years later, she started working with lilacs, developing deeper colors, bigger blooms, more hardy plants. By 1910, she had 14 commercial varieties to her credit, though at one time she had named as many as 100.

In 1920, she began opening her home and gardens each spring to share her lilacs with others. Her open houses were so beloved that towns around the area requested that she name new varieties after them, including the City of Longview, City of Kalama, City of Gresham, and City of Woodland. She was honored by Washington State and Harvard, among others, for her work. The death of her husband in 1922 made her rethink her work, but her family encouraged her to continue.

What happened next is best told in the words of the website dedicated to her work: 

“The spring of 1948 brought another great adversity when the swirling waters of the Columbia River swept across her property, wiping out her lilac gardens and nearly every other shrub on the place. Only the big trees withstood the flood but undaunted and at the age of 83, she set about rebuilding her garden. Many people who had purchased her lilacs in the past returned starts to her so she could replace her losses.

It took two years and a great deal of work but in 1950 she was able to open her gardens for Lilac Week once again — a practice she continued until her death in 1960.”

The seeds Hulda planted continue to bear fruit. Now a state and national historic landmark, Hulda Klager’s home and gardens continue to open each spring to share her legacy. Her life forms the basis for Jane Kirkpatrick’s Where Lilacs Still Bloom. 

Nineteenth Century Wonder-Plant: Lovely Lavender

What do Sequim, Washington; Lullingstone, England; and Provence, France, have in common? Something that no nineteenth century lady, and many gentlemen, would be without.

Lavender.

Lavender is thought to have originated in India or the Middle East. Called spikenard or nard, it was known in Biblical times. The Romans considered it an herb and used it in or on just about everything. Sometime during the Dark Ages, monks began cultivating it in England. The pilgrims are credited with bringing it to America.

I will admit to being fond of the little purple flowers (although the plant just getting ready to bloom in my garden is white), but lavender has a surprising utility. Just consider some of the ways it was used in the nineteenth century:

• Distilled with water as a light astringent (lavender water, anyone?) or to help laryngitis
• Combined with other scents for perfumes and lotions
• Powered into smelling salts
• Applied as a poultice to bites or stings
• Used with hot chocolate to put your beloved in the mood
• As a flavor for snuff
• Included in herbal tea
• As an ingredient for baking.

Perhaps my favorite use for lavender, however, is in a lavender wand, which is creating by bending the flowered end of a lavender stalk into the center and then weaving ribbon to close it up. My dear husband gave me one for one of our anniversaries, and I take it out and inhale deeply from time to time. The scent never ceases to relax me.

The beribboned devices were not only used to waft away sour smells but could be found in Victorian cupboards to keep bugs out of stored clothing and blankets. And they were quite right, for lavender actually does have insecticidal properties!

Want to make one of your own? Follow directions here.

So, what's your favorite use for lavender?

May Flowers on May Day

Happy May Day!  Though not a holiday much celebrated in either England or America in the nineteenth century, there were still those hardy souls who clung to the old ways and picked flowers, danced around the May Pole, and handed bouquets to friends and family on May 1.  So, dear friends, here are some flowers I “picked” just for you, courtesy of Hampton Court gardens in England:

And I couldn't resist throwing in this fellow for good measure.

May your May Day be merry!