March 16, 2024 – We are welcoming in spring in the garden! Many bushes, trees, and lilacs are starting to burst open. This is exciting as we prepare for Lilac days which starts on Saturday, April 20 and runs through Sunday, May 12th. If you are available to volunteer, we would love to have you before, during and after Lilac Days. Please contact Judy Card at jcard20983@aol.com or Mari Ripp at HKLGexecutivedirector@gmail.com. We have lots of volunteer opportunities and shifts are 3 hrs.each. You can choose being a docent in the house for tours, working a shift in the barn/museum, gift shop, or in plant sales. We are also excited as we are bringing in a few new varieties of lilacs for sale, one is called Flower Fiesta, which is a dwarf lilac. There will also be plants for sale in many sizes from small and up to one to 2 gallons. Hope to see you in the garden soon!

Spring pictures
More spring pictures

January 14, 2024 – Boy oh boy! Winter sure hit with a vengeance! The biting cold temps in the teens and the bitterly cold wind & snow. We winterized and prepped in advance of the storm thankfully. So only 1-2 lilac bushes have damage. The snow looks beautiful in the garden and here are a few pics to enjoy.

So far we are watching weather and road reports for Tuesday, January 16th 1pm board meeting. I will update MONDAY (I hear more snow is forecast for Wednesday!) Our alternate date for board is 10am on Tuesday January 23rd, followed by Membership meeting at 1pm. I’ll keep you posted. Stay warm and be safe☺️

Gardens in Winter!

December 12, 2023 – We held our annual HKLG Christmas party at Hulda’s farmhouse. There was lots of fun, laughter, friendship, food and a lively gift exchange playing the “steal a gift or choose a wrapped gift game”. If you couldn’t attend, we hope you will in the next year.

Christmas Party

December 11, 2023 – Meet Tracy Clark, our new Groundskeeper for the Lilac Gardens. Tracy has worked in retail garden centers and at our local nursery and has a love of plants, gardening and the outdoors. Please welcome her and say hi if you see her out and about in the gardens.

New Groundskeeper!
Happy Thanksgiving!

October 15, 2023 – Fall is here and winter is right around the corner. We are still busy in the garden weeding, landscaping and planting new lilacs (to replace some older and empty spots from past winter damage.) We are still looking for volunteers for the garden work and if you are available and can volunteer an hour or two here and there, please contact us at hklgexecutivedirector@gmail.com.
Come join us and be a member as well. We’d love to have you. Check out our membership information on the website. Enjoy the fall weather, falling leaves and cooler days, and rain (of course) and a peek or two of the sunny weather too. See you in the garden soon!

July 27, 2023 – Our WINNER of the beautiful raffle quilt was Jane Ewert! The drawing was held on 7/25/23. Jane received the quilt and was thrilled at winning this beautiful quilt. A special thank you to the Memory Block Quilt Group from Community of Christ Church, Ridgefield WA for making the quilt. Thank you to all our supporters for buying tickets. And…we’re working on the new quilt for 2024, so watch for more info soon!

Quilt Winner

July 25, 2023 – The quilt raffle drawing was held at the HKLG Membership & Volunteer annual picnic on Tuesday, July 25th. It was a lovely evening in the garden and we had a great picnic dinner and lots of visiting went on! The quilt raffle ticket was drawn and the lucky winner was Jane Ewert! We have notified her and more photos are coming soon. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets and for your support of the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. Insider info: We have selected our pattern, fabric and quilt group to make next year’s raffle quilt, so watch the website for announcements!

The gardens are open daily 10am to 2pm (except closed to public Wednesdays and holidays.) Fee payable at the self-pay station at the front gate is $5 adults (cash or check), children 12 and under free.
Come enjoy the gardens and have a picnic!

Annual picnic
Summer 2023

July 17, 2023 – It’s summer and the hot, dry weather is definitely here! We are irrigating and doing maintenance and repairs throughout the garden. We’ve been open daily to the public who enjoy the beautiful, peaceful tranquility of the grounds. “Wednesday Weeders” have been sprucing up the garden beds, but there’s much more to do. We can use more help! We have our upcoming Membership and Volunteer Recognition Picnic on Tuesday, July 25th at 6:00 pm in the garden. If you are interested in becoming a member or volunteer please contact hklgexecutivedirector@gmail.com or visit the membership page.

See you in the Gardens!

Summer 2023 - Pictures of the gardens

June 9, 2023 – We are nearly sold out of the remaining lilacs from our plant sale. We will be selling the remainder of the Glory Lilac (purple, prolific bloomer) at Planters Days on Saturday, June 17th 9am to 2 pm. So if you didn’t get one, come see us at our table at Park Rd/Goerig Street. They are $36 including tax, cash or check only. Only about 40 left, so get them while you can!

Summer is about upon us and this sunny, warm weather has been terrific. The good news is the lilacs are loving it, and the bad is, so are the weeds! We are busy sprucing up the garden doing weeding, pruning, catching moles, and planting new lilacs. We are doing “Wednesday Weeder” work parties. If you are able to join the volunteers, contact hklgexecutivedirector@gmail.com if you can volunteer some time to help in the gardens.

We have our upcoming Membership and Volunteer Recognition Picnic on Tuesday, July 25th at 6:00 pm in the garden. Please SAVE THE DATE! More information to come in our upcoming Newsletter.

See you in the Gardens!

Current pictures

May 22, 2023-

Lilac Plant Sale **markdowns** 1 gallon lilacs

End of season plant sale at Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens – on sale! When they’re gone, they’re gone! We have 2 varieties left from Lilac Days: Glory and Yankee Doodle.

Glory is early, amazing, prolific bloomer, fragrant deep-purple flowers.

Yankee Doodle has the deepest and darkest purple blooms in the lilac family. The leaves are heart shaped with a blue-green color. The leaves do not change in the fall. The blooms have a strong, sweet fragrance.

On sale now through May 31st (while quantities last.) $36 each (cash or check), local pickup at gardens, 115 S. Pekin Rd., Woodland, WA. First pickup date Friday, May 27th 9am to noon, Second pickup Saturday, May 28th 9am to noon. To purchase, email hklgexecutivedirector@gmail.com or send message. FCFS while they last!

Lilac Sale

May 17, 2023 – We finished up Lilac Days 2023 and want to give a big shoutout to all the volunteers that make this happen, and to the Lilac Garden Board members for their time spent and countless volunteer hours, to our groundskeeper and helpers for their hard work, to the vendors who added to the event, and to all our visitors who support and make the gardens possible.

What’s new? We will have the gardens open daily* (*with exceptions) beginning May 15th from 10am to 2pm (gates close so wrap it up by 1:45 pm please). *There will be a few exceptions and closures, so please see the Calendar at our website for current closures. Closed on Holidays, too. The house and museum are closed at this time.

Lilacs. We have a few Lilac plants left over from Lilac Days and will be announcing an online plant sale beginning approximately May 21st – May 31st. We have 1 gallon Glory (single magenta/purple) and 1 gallon Yankee Doodle (single purple). Pricing TBD. Cash or checks. Local pickup.

We are looking for more volunteers and members to help tend the garden. Please contact me at hklgexecutivedirector@gmail.com if you’re available. Sign up to get an annual membership ($8) and get unlimited entry during the next 2024 Lilac Days and year-long by showing your membership card. After Lilac Days members enter at no charge other days, when gates are open and staff are available and present, throughout spring, summer and fall Also receive emails on upcoming events, speakers and meetings. Volunteer opportunities also. Link to membership, or signup at the entry gate. https://lilacgardens.com/about/membership/

See you in the Gardens!

May 10th, 2023 – The mornings are still cool in the garden and we’re seeing sunny afternoons with hot weather coming Saturday and Sunday. Mother’s Day will be great with the lilacs looking spectacular and the blooms just keep coming. Since we have such a large variety of lilac plants in the garden, we have many early, mid and late bloomers…. something for everyone to stroll the gardens and see! We celebrated the remembrance of Hulda Klager on her birthday today! Cupcakes and lots of visitors. Come visit and get a copy of “Where Lilacs Still Bloom” by Jane Kirkpatrick or many other lilac themed items in the gift shop. Take in the new barn/museum and see our theme “Hats from the past”. Last, don’t forget a tour of the historic Klager house which is open 1-4pm daily. See you in the garden and at Lilac Days!

May 1, 2023 – The gardens are really bursting with color! Weather has improved with the sun and warmer temps. On April 27th we were lucky to have a visit from Mark DeBard, all the way from Ohio, with the International Lilac Society and he shared his beautiful photos with us. He mentioned, “Thirteen different rare cultivars from Hulda Klager Lilac Garden in Woodland, WA that I took pictures of 3 days ago: Fred C. Wilke, Pink Elizabeth, Hallelujah, R. and B. Mills, Carley, Van Eaton, Lady Lucille, Peacock, Mrs Berneasha (or Bereasha), Perky Artie, Hyacinth, R. W. Mills, and Frank Smith.” (See his post on Facebook at International Lilac Society page.) Come see the gardens and enjoy all the lilacs and other plants and trees at this National Historic site. Take home a few lilacs from the plant sale open daily 10am-4pm now through May 14th!

April 27, 2023 – The sun is out and we’re seeing blooms! It was a lovely day in the garden and as we strolled around we observed blooms showing all over the garden. Some high, some low, but there’s definitely color! Particularly Anabel, Royal Purple, Mme. Lemoine, President Poincaré, My Favorite, Josee, just to name a few. Lilac Days is open daily 10am to 4 pm and the house tours from 1pm to 4 pm daily. We also are having musicians in the gardens 4/28, 4/29, 4/30 this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Come visit soon and see the new barn/museum!

Garden TimeApril 19, 2023 – We welcomed Garden Time to the gardens for an interview with Ruth Wendt, Board member who gave information on lilacs and care, followed by Mari Ripp, Executive Director speaking on Lilac Days. View the podcast and see current and past photos of the gardens, learn more on history and also information on Lilac Days. Click here to see the podcast.

April 18, 2023 – It was a busy few days as we received delivery of our plants for the Lilac Days Annual Plant Sale (April 22-May 14, available while supplies last!). We had volunteers helping unload, tag, prep plants,and all in the rain and sunshine! Whew! We got wet! And speaking of lilac plants, the garden is moving slowly from bud to bloom, but it won’t be long and it’ll be spectacular! (See the 4/18/2023 pics.) There are still lots of other plants showing their color too. Opening day is this Saturday, April 22nd. See you in the garden!

April 11, 2023: Did we have some wild Spring weather today or what?! Rain, hail and sun! 🤩 Work party at Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens (missed a few in the pic..sorry). Blooms are peeking out and saw Congo and Bloomerang showing some color! Magnolia, camellia and pieris are looking good color wise! Come visit April 22-May 14th 10am-4pm daily. Lots of plants arriving soon for the ANNUAL PLANT SALE! (Insider tip: there will be a few varieties that haven’t been sold before or for awhile!)

April 11

March 31, 2023: The gardens are showing signs of springs arrival. Lilacs are beginning to burst open, daffodils, hyacinth, camellias are blooming as well as other early bloomers. We had a local 4H group come to the gardens and planted 6 flats of donated primroses and some pansies. We had a fantastic speaker for the March 28th Membership meeting. Nicolette Dobbe-Behrendsen from Holland America Bulb and Flower Farm shared information on bulb planting, care and harvesting. We also have some more new birdhouses in the garden, made by Dave Dahl, so be on the lookout for all the new replacements that cover the maintenance equipment. Work parties are coming up (next 4/11 at 9am) and we have a job for everyone that wants to volunteer! More updates will be posted, so watch for them. Come on sunny weather!!

Spring Photos

March 11, 2023: Construction of the new ADA accessible ramp at the barn/museum was completed by volunteers from LOVE INC. Their crew of 10-12 came and worked through the cold and rain that day. We are extremely grateful for their work and building the ramp, which will be a great addition to the gardens for years to come.

Volunteers
Ramp

February 28, 2023: Winter is still upon us in SW Washington and we’ve seen snow in the low and higher elevations. We had snow in the gardens too and it was pretty for pictures! We are watching the plants which are showing signs of “waking up” and there are bulbs and other sprouts in the garden beds. The gardens are looking very nice with our new garden staff working hard. We have been busy putting together new exhibits in the barn museum and changing some areas in the Lilac Gardens house. We have construction starting for a new ADA ramp to the barn museum too. Stay tuned for more updates!

Hats from the past
Barn Project

Questions? Comments? Please contact us.