Every May, an ordinary green field in my corner of Idaho turns into a sea of beautiful pink blossoms. I first noticed this three years ago, when I began driving on a regular basis to my daughter's house to babysit my darling granddaughter. The rosy hue doesn't show up as well in my photo as I had hoped, but it can be seen in the close-up below. I looked this flower up in A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers and determined it is Long-leaved Phlox. This wildflower comes in several shades of pink.
In my own garden, I am tremendously excited about the first-time blooms on my very own lilac bush! I just planted it in the fall of 2017, and here it is, blooming for the first time.
We bought our first home in 1985 in Minnesota, and one of the things I loved about it was the huge lilac bush in the front yard. It was obviously a very old plant, and had gotten so big, the children could go inside of it and play. Ever since we moved here, I have wanted to have lilac bushes in my yard. My sister gave me some starts nearly 20 years ago, but they never grew much and never bloomed. However, they were planted along the edge of the woods, and it's possible the deer constantly ate off all the new growth and any tiny blossoms. This bush is inside the garden fence, so I am hopeful it will grow and bloom every spring.