Hulda klager biography of martin
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The sheer number of visitors was a testament to Hulda's talent and the enduring appeal of her lilacs.
Today, Hulda Klager's legacy lives on in the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and showcasing her remarkable collection. In 1928 alone, Better Homes and Gardens and the Lewis River News featured articles celebrating her horticultural achievements.
She replanted and relandscaped. Sixteen years passed.
The Lilac Society stepped in, swapped land with the developer, raised money to buy the house and won grants to restore the estate — in addition to patiently raising the lilacs.
But the average age of the Lilac Society's members is probably now 70, says the current president, Fran Northcut, 59.
They had come from near and far, drawn by the promise of a floral spectacle unlike any other.
At the heart of this botanical bonanza was the remarkable Hulda Klager and her exquisite lilac garden. According to old newspaper clippings, where she described her work, Klager said she planted them and walked into the garden early in the mornings, when the dew was fresh and the wind was calm.
She gingerly pried open new lilac buds with a crochet hook and gathered the pollen on a paintbrush.
When the local garden club heard Hulda’s legacy was in danger of being destroyed for a housing development, they stepped in to save the home and gardens.
Since 1976, the Hulda Klager Lilac Society has owned and maintained the gardens.
You can read more about Hulda’s life and accomplishments in Jane Kirkpatrick’s book Where Lilacs Still Bloom.
When Brenda, Mary and I arrived at the garden, the first thing that caught my eye was the landscaping in front of the house.
"But now I know it's all in the game. Service dogs are permitted.
To showcase the site, the Gardens and historic buildings have been lovingly maintained by the Hulda Klager Lilac Society, a nonprofit volunteer organization. Visitors get to enjoy more than 150 varieties of lilacs and some unusual plants and trees.
Hulda Klager came to this America from Germany with her family in 1865, when she was two years old.
the finest collection in the country."
About that time, enough flower fanciers were coming her way that she decided to open her house to the public, when the lilacs were in full bloom.
In 1947, the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs gave her an award for developing more than 100 "new and valuable strains of lilac and other horticultural material." She was given a similar award by the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs in 1958.
Her lilacs were planted in the State Capitol grounds in Olympia, and at arboretums in Massachusetts, Illinois and Nebraska.
In Klager's obituary in the Longview Daily News — she had lived 83 years in Woodland — a neighbor, Mrs.
Al Fredrickson, said, "Her keen mind remembered in detail the origin and names of all her plants and flowers. She became known as the Lilac Lady.
After her passing, the family was unable to maintain the farm and gardens, and the property was sold. There's a $4 admission fee - except during lilac season when the admission fee is $5.
Hulda Klager Lilac Garden
Last month, Captain Cavedweller and I made a quick trip to Portland in search of “stuff” for our kitchen remodel project.
We were so pleased to get to spend time with my cousin, Brad, and his lovely wife, Brenda.
One morning while the guys went to the shooting range, Brenda, her mom (Mary), and I drove to Woodland, Washington, to visit the lilac gardens.
Oh, my word!
It was magnificent.
The 1889 Victorian farmhouse and country garden is a national historical site.
She applied the pollen to the pistils of other varieties, experimenting with different colors and fragrances and sizes and numbers of petals. But a fire gutted the house. With the help of our volunteers and members, the Society continues to carry on the work of growing and showing the beautiful lilacs including those hybridized by Hulda Klager many decades ago.
Maintaining the Gardens is truly a labor of love on the part of the Lilac Society.
From it, she learned how to breed bigger apples so she could bake plumper pies. She called her lilacs pets.
"Some people had dogs and cats," says Peggy Stenlund, 81, the Lilac Society's garden supervisor since 1980. She loved flowers and as a little girl in Wisconsin, she would wander through the woods in search of wildflowers.
By 1910, she had 14 new varieties of lilacs.
In 10 years, she had enough varieties to host her own open house during the spring bloom. She did it all on her own. And they admired Klager so much that in 1976, they decided to preserve Klager's house and work.
They raised money at pancake feeds, saved the land from developers, persuaded the government to name the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens a national historic site, and reintroduced a tradition that Klager started back in the 1920s: inviting the public to see her lilacs in full bloom.
This year, the Lilac Festival lasts through Sunday, Mother's Day.
The grounds are open daily from 10 a.m. Then I was immediately transfixed with these beauties.
The salmon hue of these Japanese camellias was incredible. Even in a little town of 3,600 people, growth and development can be serious problems.
"This place, it's kind of like a time warp, where people can come think, 'I'm a little girl again,' " says Peggy Mars, 62, a past president of the Lilac Society, who now manages the gift shop.