Park staff estimate the blooms in the Manito Park Lilac Garden will be at their best on May 20th. The purple and pink flowers are ready just in time for the Lilac Festival and to usher in spring in the Lilac City.

Surprisingly, lilac bushes are not native to Spokane. They were first planted here by J.J. Browne in 1906 at West 2226 Second Ave. in the now popular Browne's Addition. By 1912, 128 lilac bushes had been brought over from Rochester, NY to start the Manito Park Lilac Garden.

It was the in the early 1930s that Spokane became known as the “Lilac City” when three men, Dr. S.E. Lambert, W.T. Triplett and John W. Duncan, encouraged the garden club to plant the bushes around town. In 1938 Spokane was celebrating with the Lilac Festival.

The Land Committee of the Spokane Park Board considered a proposal to purchase land that would extend the Centennial Trail at a meeting on Wednesday April 3rd. The land to be purchased is currently part of the Kendall Yards property. The total land is 3.5 acres but .85 acres of that will be donated by Kendall Yards.

The city was given a grant from the Washington Public Works Board for the amount of $1.97 million in order to make the purchase. Kendall Yards has agreed to sell the land for that price even though independent appraisers for both the city and developer determined the value of the land to be around $3.9 million. As part of the purchase agreement Kendall Yards will construct the trail extension and hope to have it completed as early as this summer. The revenue of the sale will be used to fund the extension project.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission sure is tech-savvy for a 100-year-old.

The commission announced today that it is launching the Pocket Ranger Smartphone App that is available for both iPhone and Android devices. The app includes guides, information and amenities on more than 100 state parks.

From the commission:

The Commission invites the public to celebrate 100 years of state parks in Washington by using this new App to plan park trips. Centennial 2013 events and activities will be available in parks all over the state throughout 2013. Signature Centennial 2013 events are planned at Riverside State Park June 8 and at Deception Pass State Park August 3. Visit www.parks.wa.gov/events/ <http://www.parks.wa.gov/events/> for details.