Lilac Air

"Let us linger awhile in the wonderful old Lilac walk. 

It is a glory of tender green and shaded amethyst and grateful hum of bees, the very voice of Spring. 

Every sense is gratified, even that of touch, 

when the delicate plumes of the fragrant Lilac blossoms brush your cheek as you walk through its path; 

there is no spot of fairer loveliness than this Lilac walk in May. 

It is a wonderful study of flickering light and grateful shade in midsummer...

The very spirit of the Lilacs seems visible, 

etched with a purity of touch that makes them sentient, speaking beings, instead of silent plants."

Alice Morse Earle - In Lilac Tide

Apple Blossom Time

"Out among the apple trees as the buds begin to bloom

The fragrance of the orchard fills the air with sweet perfume

I listen to the soft and gentle buzzing of the bees

As they dart from flower to flower in the branches of the trees (...)

As the fragrance of the blossom petals softly fill the air

The chances are you’ll find me dreaming lazily out there

Somewhere in the apple orchard feeling quite sublime

In the coolness of the evening at apple blossom time"

Stephen Washam

France, Loire Valley - Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire III (The Tropical Greenhouse)

 A must see while visiting the Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire Domain is the tropical-plant-filled greenhouse.