Story and photos by Ron Engeldinger, Milwaukie, Oregon
As a longtime local, I often drove past the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in southwest Washington state. Finally, one mild spring day, I had to stop. Soon I was wandering the perfumed paths that wind among more than 400 bushes representing some 150 varieties of lilacs. But even more amazing is the story behind the gardens.
Hulda emigrated from Germany with her family, crossing the country in a covered wagon and arriving in Washington in 1877. At 16, she married a dairy farmer and soon had four children.
When she was about 40, this self-educated botanist began hybridizing lilacs, and over the next five decades she developed more than 60 new varieties. So significant was this work that horticultural groups nationwide still honor her as a pioneer. But the locals simply knew her as the Lilac Lady, who opened her garden to the public each spring, starting in 1920, to share her love of the flowers. The event, known as Lilac Week, quickly became a much-loved tradition.
But while one visionary woman was behind the garden, a community kept it alive. As far back as 1948, when flooding destroyed the lilac beds, folks across the region rallied to help Hulda rebuild, bringing starts from plants she’d given them. Within two years, she reopened her gates for Lilac Week, continuing the tradition until her death in 1960, at the age of 96.
At first, relatives took over the estate, but it was too much. They put the property up for sale, and developers jumped on it, with plans to erect an industrial park. Four decades of a pioneer’s work, plus a yearly community tradition, would be lost to a bulldozer.
The news lit a fire in members of the local Woodland Federated Garden Club. Their fight began with getting the property listed as an official historic site. Safe from destruction, the house and gardens still faced a slow decline from years of neglect. Hands-on TLC was needed, but lilac lovers couldn’t restore the site if they didn’t own it. The little garden club couldn’t afford to buy the big property—but then, as it had after the 1948 flood, the community came to the rescue.
Daisy Button Grotvik of the Woodland gardeners made a major donation. A nonprofit, the Hulda Klager Lilac Society, quickly formed to care for the house and grounds. Folks went to work repairing and restoring the 126-year-old farmhouse while others sought and reclaimed Hulda’s original furnishings. A woodshed, water tower and carriage house benefited from loving attention. Today the work and updates continue, most recently the installation of wide cobblestone walkways that provide greater accessibility for visitors.
Although visitors to the garden learn about lilacs, they may not know that Hulda was asked to sell them in a catalog but refused: She wanted to know the people who would grow her flowers. There’s so much to Hulda Klager beyond her work in hybridization. When you consider the thought and labor, money and time the community has given to keep her legacy alive, it’s clear that she planted something that goes far beyond blooms.
