One of the most cherished spring-flowering shrubs is the lilac. With its appealing fragrance and abundance of bloom, it continues to be a favorite everywhere it grows.
Moreover, the new hybrids, with their larger flowers and exciting colors, are high on the popular list of flowering shrubs.
When making selections, the home gardener is confronted with the same problem that arises when making iris, peony, tulip, or daffodil choices.
Namely, there are so many varieties, similar in color and form, that it is often bewildering when it comes to choosing a few.
The color plate on the opposite page presents 12 varieties long with the cream-of-the-crop, as listed in “Lilacs For America.”
This pamphlet, listing the outstanding lilacs, is published by the Arthur Hoyt Scott Horticultural Foundation, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, for a committee of the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboretums and may be obtained for $1.00 a copy by writing the publishers.
12 Selections
Of these 12 selections, eight are introductions from the Lemoine Nursery of Nancy, France, and range from Congo of 1896 origin to Katherine Havemeyer, named in 1922 for Mrs. T. A. Havemeyer.
Corinne is an old variety associated with the Ballet Nursery of Troyes, France, which also brought out the unique salmon-pink Lucie Baltet about 1888.
Macrostachya is another very old plant that appeared in the Paris area in the middle of the last century. The famous Spaeth Nursery in Berlin, Germany, in 1883, started Ludwig Spaeth off to become the most popular purple lilac.
Statistical probing into “Lilacs For America” reveals that there were 700 other names that, for varied reasons, were out of the running for the 100 best. Of special interest are the references to many new European introductions, which few in this country have seen as yet.
One may be mentioned since its recent patenting in this country indicates it may be offered soon. It is Sensation, reported before the war, though the word was anxiously awaited during that difficult period from Holland whether it had survived.
It appeared as a sport on a plant of Hugo de Vries, the single purple introduced as a Dutch forcing variety in 1927. Its distinctive feature is a neat white edge on every petal.
Another very valuable new lilac is Edward J. Gardner, named for the nurser% man of Horicon, Wisconsin, whose death in 1952 cut short the beginning of an excellent commercial lilac collection.
It is a splendid memorial to Mr. Gardner that his pink seedling should bear his name. Its outstanding character lies in its uniform pearly-pink color in a double floret.
Lilac Week Celebration
During a recent Lilac Week celebration in Highland Park, Rochester, New York, a lilac preference exhibit was set up in The Garden Center of Rochester where a volunteer staff cajoled some 263 people into taking the time to select a first, second, and third choice of the six varieties on display as cut branches.
To eliminate color preference, only white flowers were shown. The idea was to obtain the relative appeal of single and double lilacs, large and small florets, and the old versus the modern.
Except for one variety the total of votes cast was very close. The varieties were chosen to represent certain groups and not to rate these particular varieties:
1. Princesse Alexandra (Dougal —Canada) Introduced in 1886—This representative of the old, single white lilac competed with varieties having florets twice its size. Nevertheless, its starry flowers in a loose, expansive cluster had a genuine appeal.
Many selected it as their favorite, receiving more third-choice votes than any other. This preference for the old standard white lilac was the major revelation of the project.
2. Mine. Casimir Perier (Lemoine—France) Introduced in 1894 —This variety has cupped petals which Make a rotund bud. The open floret is ball-shaped, and the clusters are of medium size.
Available from a great many nurseries, it has long been a standard double white lilac. It received the largest number of first-choice votes and tied for second place in total of all votes.
3. Jan Van Tol (Van Tol—Holland) Introduced in 1916—Developed for the trade in forced florist’s blooms in Holland, it is also a very desirable garden plant.
It had the largest individual floret shown, with the petals- only slightly cupped, giving a starry effect though the cluster is compact as required for forcing. It received the highest total of all votes.
4. Joan Dunbar (Dunbar—Rochester) Introduced in 1916—This was the only variety not favored by our poll. It is a small floret type, doubled hose-in-hose.
The long tube gives its cluster a loose, lacy effect. Of necessity, the clusters exhibited had more buds than the others, which may have lost some votes for it.
5. Monument (Lemoine-France) Introduced in 1934—A representative of the newer lilacs which exhibit elongated clusters, its florets single and intermediate in size, it received the highest total of second-choice votes and tied for second place in a total of all votes.
6. Alice Ilarding (LemoineFrance) Introduced in 1938—This most recent introduction shown has flat petals and fully double florets opening up to wide pin-wheels. Its compact cluster is filled. This representative of the newer doubles was yet received.
Weeping Form Lost
We are indebted to Mr. Anton Malefyt of Berwick, Pennsylvania, for his discovery in an old estate planting of the weeping form of the early lilac (Syringa oblata). This leads one to wonder whether there may be any survivors of the weeping form of the poking lilac (S. pekinensis).
This was a novelty introduced by F. L. Temple from his Shady Hill Nurseries, Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 1887, and was certainly rather widely distributed at the beginning of this century. I hope that its re-discovery is still possible.
Nearly 60 years ago, an editorial in “Garden And Forest” discussed lilac and other common plants. It declared the lilac a desirable shrub and protested against the thought that its presence in every farm yard must temper enthusiasm for its use.
Certainly, this generation, in the succession predicted in the editorial, still admires the good qualities of the lilac.
Selection Made of Lilacs
With a selection made of old and new lilacs, the question arises of the best way to plant and care for them. The place where lilacs are to be planted is important.
It should be free of competition with the roots of established trees and open to the sun for at least most of the day. There should be no danger of surface water collecting and standing for more than a few hours.
Unless cloned very early, spring planting involves some setback to the leaf buds that swell and burst with the first warm days. This makes fall planting preferable.
There is usually less rush then, and more time can be taken to prepare a hole amply wide for the root system, with a little to spare and deep enough to accommodate a six-inch layer of good compost.
43890 by Bernard Harkness