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Gaiziņkalns

A purple-coloured lilac – a tribute to the giant of Vidzeme's uplands.

Upītis's family home in Jumurda district was near Gaiziņkalns. On a clear, sunny days, the hill could be seen from the windows of Upītis's family home. PēterisUpītis' brother Augusts once reminisced: "One day (I might have been thirteen or so), we, all three brothers, walked to Gaiziņkalns. We spent the night in a haybarn. After our supper, Pēteris sent Valdemārs to deliver a letter to the nearby house, Kulitēni, to his sweetheart, KristīneBaltpurviņa. I don't know what he had written but I remember him acting haughty – he wouldn't deliver the letter himself but sent a messenger instead. I have loved hills ever since those days at Gaiziņkalns." The memories of his youth inspired PēterisUpītis to dedicate to Gaiziņkalns this purplish-red cultivar with double-flowered blossoms.

'Gaiziņkalns'