A RAPIDLY CLEARING SKY
FIRST LILAC BLOSSOMS
WILD PLUM BLOSSOM
WILD PLUM THICKETThursday, 7:15 AM. 38 degrees, wind W, calm at ground level. The sky is partly cloudy but clearing rapidly and the barometer predicts sunny skies.
The lilac on the south side of the house, where it gets reflected sunlight, is blooming, and others will soon follow. The common lilac, Syringia persica, has been hybridized for hundreds of years and many can be identified only by experts in the species. There are many other Syringia species in cultivation, also much hybridized, and many inter-specific hybrids. It is a confusing but highly useful horticultural genus.
There is a large thicket of wild plum, Prunus americana, in full bloom between 6th and 7th Sts. and Wilson Ave. This native plum is common along roadsides and woods edges throughout the northern and eastern US and southern and eastern Canada. It forms large impenetrable thickets, and the edible fruit was once used extensively for preserves, wine and brandy. It is much too aggressive for the small landscape, but very welcome in the wild. I remember slivovitz, plum brandy , very well from my Milwaukee youth.
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