Go Down to Kew in Lilac-Time

The Lilac Garden at Kew Gardens, 19 April 2011

It's lilac-time! The lilacs are blooming all over London; spring has gotten much sweeter.
If you love their pretty hues of purple and their lovely sweet scent, too, follow this advice:

Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)

So wrote Alfred Noyes in his poem "The Barrel-Organ", praising the spring-blooming trees in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

And it really is summer's wonderland–Kew must be one of the loveliest places there are in London at the moment.

When visiting the Lilac Garden, you may think that little has changed since Edwardian times, when this poem was written. However, while there have been lilacs at Kew for a long time, the Lilac Garden that we enjoy today actually is a fairly recent creation–you can read more about it on Kew Gardens' website (archive).

Syringa vulgaris 'Tadeusz Kosciuszko'

Syringa X hyacinthiflora 'Pink Cloud'

Syringa X hyacinthiflora 'Esther Staley'

Syringa vulgaris 'Souvenir d'Alice Harding'

Syringa vulgaris 'Hugo Koster'

There are more pictures of the lilacs at Kew Gardens (as well as some other photos) in my Flickr set Kew Gardens 19/04/2011.