One woman, an impossible dream, and the faith it took to see it through, inspired by the life of Hulda Klager German immigrant and farm wife Hulda Klager possesses only an eighth-grade education—and a burning desire to create something beautiful. What begins as a hobby to create an easy-peeling apple for her pies becomes Hulda’s driving purpose: a time-consuming interest in plant hybridization … plant hybridization that puts her at odds with family and community, as she challenges the early twentieth-century expectations for a simple housewife.
Through the years, seasonal floods continually threaten to erase her Woodland, Washington garden and a series of family tragedies cause even Hulda to question her focus. In a time of practicality, can one person’s simple gifts of beauty make a difference?
Based on the life of Hulda Klager, Where Lilacs Still Bloom is a story of triumph over an impossible dream and the power of a generous heart.
“Beauty matters… it does. God gave us flowers for a reason. Flowers remind us to put away fear, to stop our rushing and running and worrying about this and that, and for a moment, have a piece of paradise right here on earth.”
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Award winning author Jane Kirkpatrick’s historical novel, Where Lilacs Still Bloom, filled my heart. It’s a compelling story of enduring love of family and God’s earthly bounties.
The story begins in 1889 in Woodland, Washington, when German immigrant and farm wife Hulda Klager seizes an idea to improve the pie apples growing in their small orchard. She’s weary of the scrawny fruit that’s hard to peel. Her experiments with apple hybridization result in a crisp, juicy apple that’s easy to peel. Her consuming interest is questioned by those who feel she’s overstepping boundaries of a simple housewife and mother. Some even assert that she’s tampering with God’s plan.
Hulda’s father encourages her to follow her God-given talents. Even though her husband Frank teases her about her “hobby,” he encourages her to pursue her growing interest, providing there’s “bread on the table and pies in the oven.” She begins to experiment with flowers, concentrating on lilacs, with a dream of growing a creamy white lilac with twelve petals. By 1905 Hulda had created 14 new varieties of lilac, using a turkey feather to cross-pollinate, always seeking to produce “bigger blooms, hardier stalks, richer color, and finer fragrance.”
Interest in Hulda’s garden grows and she begins to hold open houses, sometimes drawing hundreds of people, even from distant communities. She resists selling cuttings, preferring instead to share God’s bounty. Her four children help in the garden, and as they leave home to begin their own families, Hulda opens her home to two young girls who need a loving home and who can help in the garden. These girls’ lives, thread throughout the book, show how tender care for plants mirrors life.
Throughout Hulda’s long life she sees tragedy in the loss of loved ones, but she endures and finds comfort in her horticultural interests. Her gardens, along with their farm and their neighbors’ property, are threatened with seasonal floods and when the Columbia and Lewis Rivers overflow in 1948, the entire community is flooded. We learn the true character of this legendary woman as she deals with this calamity.
Where Lilacs Still Bloom is filled with the richness and grace found in Jane Kirkpatrick’s work. This novel is her twenty-second book and nineteenth novel. A master storyteller, Kirkpatrick researches her subjects, then brings their story to readers in a compelling, refreshingly creative way, yet always keeping true the subject’s spirit. I highly recommend this book. It would be of special interest to garden enthusiasts, but also to anyone drawn to an inspirational story of loyalty, faith, family values and God’s bounty.
Very interesting and inspiring local Northwest history.
Where Lilacs Still Bloom, by Jane Kirkpatrick~book review
It is my opinion that Jane Kirkpatrick must be a woman with a very high I.Q. After reading some of her books, I believe she finds writing as an outlet for the restlessness that comes with being highly intelligent.
That being said, Mrs. Kirkpatrick has written a book that is about several people whose lives intersect
at some point, because of the dedication of Hulda Klager towards her lilacs, and her persistence in finding new, stronger varieties of lilacs.
It’s a pity some people might pass this book up, because they’ll miss learning about a German immigrant to America, who had a God-given talent for scientific gardening, and more than that, being a horticulturist, even though she never went past the 8th grade! Where Lilacs Still Bloom offers an abundance of hope, confidence, good life lessons, and a heart-warming look into the family and friends of this non-degreed greenskeeper and plant researcher.
This is a Christian historical fiction book, based on the true story and life of Hulda Klager.
The story starts in 1889, when Hulda was pregnant with their fourth child, and they’re getting ready to move to a farm.
You get to know her, and her husband Frank, who live on a farm in Washington state. She learns, from her dad, about grafting apple shoots onto saplings, and from that, she finds she can actually “invent” a better variety of apple, on that will peel more easily and taste more tart. You meet their children, and the other children who, by God’s wisdom, come to work and live on her farm, and learn about cross-pollination, soil management, and a host of other important details attached to Hulda’s life’s work.
I can’t say enough good about this book! It’s easy to read, very interesting and full of facts, and written in such a way as to encourage readers to perhaps learn a bit more about the propagation of flowers, or discover and visit arboretums in the USA. There’s plenty of information to get you going, if you’re the least bit curious about learning more. I got really excited about it when Hulda successfully hybridized a new variety of lilac, and when she talked to famous authors such as Luther Burbank, who was a renowned hybridizer at the time.
One more thing, The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens are now a national historic site!
The Lilac Gardens are located off I-5 exit 21, 30 minutes north of Portland, Oregon or 2.5 hours south of Seattle, Washington at 115 South Pekin Road, Woodland, Washington 98674. (Our mailing address is PO Box 828). The Gardens are open to the public most days of the year from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., with a $3.00 gate fee payable at the gate ($5 during lilac days, children 12 and under free) If you’d like to contact them, here are some
email addresses I got from their website: Contact the Lilac Gardens
@gmail.com">HKLGTours@gmail.com Schedule bus/large group tours during Lilac Days
@gmail.com">WoodlandLilacGardens@gmail.com Lilac Gardens publicity
@gmail.com">HKLGPresident@gmail.com President, Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens Society
@gmail.com">HKLGMembership@gmail.com Membership, Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens Society
@gmail.com">HKLGGiftShop@gmail.com Gift Shop – open during Lilac Days only
@gmail.com">HKLGHistoricHome@gmail.com Hulda’s home – open during Lilac Days only
Get a copy of Where Lilacs Still Bloom, and have a lovely time of reading about this nurturing and dedicated housewife who became famous just from cultivating her own flowers.
Thank you, Jane, for writing this book. (no more whining from me! LOL)
Romans 10:9-13; John 3:16-21