Every year, the little town of Woodland, WA becomes my favorite place on earth! Woodland is a relatively tiny town situated along the I-5 corridor, but it is home to two of my favorite events celebrated in April...The Lilac Festival and the Tulip Festival! Despite the forecasted rainstorms and foreboding black clouds hanging about, I remained undeterred in my mission for beauty and set off on a solo visit.
First stop...The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. Just to give you a little background...Hulda first moved to America from Germany when she was just 2 years old. The family first settled in Wisconsin, where Hulda loved to roam through the woods nearby her house and search for wildflowers. When she was 13, her family bought the property, farm and farmhouse that the gardens are now located on. She eventually married and raised 4 children, all the while continuing to foster her love for flowers. During an illness, friends brought her a book on hybridizing and she became so interested she began to experiment with apples. After successfully creating some apple hybrids, in 1905 she became interested in working with lilacs. Five years later, she had created 14 new varieties. Hulda continued to grow lilacs and work on her garden. Every year, when the gardens were at the height of their bloom, Hulda would invite people to enjoy the gardens in what became known as 'Lilac Week'. In 1948 at the age of 83, a flooded Columbia river wiped out most of her lilac gardens and much of her garden save the big trees. So, at 83 years of age, she picked up her hoe and began to rebuild her gardens. Many friends who had received her hybrid lilacs throughout the years returned starts to her so she could replace the plants she had lost in the flood. Two years later her garden was flourishing again and so 'Lilac Week' continued. Hulda died in her garden in 1960 at the ripe old age of 96, doing what she did best!
Through generous donations of land, family heirlooms and volunteers from the Hulda Klager Lilac Society, you can tour the farmhouse during the Lilac Festival and at Christmas time, amble through the fragrant gardens and choose from a variety of lilac starts in their little garden area to carry on Hulda's legacy!
My second stop was at a tulip farm just down the road from the lilac gardens. I don't have an amazing back story for the tulip farm but I think the flowers speak for themselves. Although I missed the actual festival, I was able to roam the farm and see the beauty without the hoards of other visitors...perfect timing, in my opinion!
Tulips are just about my favorite flower. I love them because they pop up after the dark dreary winter as a beacon of Spring, they smell wonderful and they come is so many amazing colors and styles...sleek, ruffly, fembriated!
Although I didn't get a picture of them, my favorite tulips are called 'Queen of the Night'...they are dark dark purple in a way that makes them appear black. I'm also a big fan of tulips that start out as one color and then morph into another such as 'Tequila Sunrise'. If I could have tulips in my house ALL year long, I would be a very happy lady!
Yeah for Spring!
