Actually, the pointilistic low-res pictures has a certain Monet/Seurrat quality to it.

Once you get to the point of doing any photo editing, you'll always use high-res, because it gives you a lot more freedom to edit, crop, etc.

Actually, I thought of Seurat when I looked at the pictures. But he pixilated on purpose. :)

You must have missed the lilacs. In Rochester, NY (the lilac capital of the world *g*) they hold the Lilac Festival in mid-May, so I'd think in your area, they'd be blooming around the same time.

Here in Vegas they bloom much earlier...