Where Lilacs Still Bloom by Jane Kirkpatrick

A wonderful story of Hulda Klager, a generally unknown lady from the north west who developed numerous varieties of lilacs. A German immigrant and farm wife, Hulda started fulfilling her lifelong dream by producing an apple that was easy to peel. Tired of fighting to peel apples for her husband’s favorite apple pie, she began grafting fruit branches from one tree to another. Each graft produced an apple closer to what she was after. Eventually, she succeeded. These experiments by a horticultural uneducated woman led her to branch out to lilacs around 1905. By 1910 she had created 14 new varieties. Ten years later she was conducting garden tours during the time the lilacs were blooming.

Where Lilacs Still Bloom takes the reader into Hulda’s life of hardships, floods and the death of husband, son-in-laws, three daughters and finally her son. Yet, she kept going developing over two hundred varieties of lilacs from three that her husband ordered for her from Europe. She passed away in 1960 at the age of ninety-seven.

Rejoice with her over her grafting successes. Cry with her when floods twice totally wipe out her whole garden. Mourn with her when death claims the members of her immediate family. Weep when you read of people from all over who donated plants they had gotten from her “failures” after the last flood destroyed every plant.

While a listed as a fiction book, Jane Kirkpatrick researched the life of Hulda and made every possible attempt to recreate her life story based on the facts available. The farm house and grounds are now listed in the U. S. National Register of Historic Places.  

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to read of a humble woman’s success and to those who have an interest in gardening and the development of different varieties of plants. An encouraging book for anyone who gets bogged down in daily living and who can’t seem to find a way to pursue the dream and vision for their life.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.