{"id":3397,"date":"2021-05-17T06:48:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T14:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2021-05-17T06:48:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T14:48:53","slug":"lilac-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/lilac-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilac Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lilac-3\"<\/a>The blooming lilacs in my garden are a joyful celebration of spring, but also remind me of \u201cWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom\u2019d,\u201d Walt Whitman\u2019s beautiful 1865\u00a0 elegy to Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated on April 14 of that year.\u00a0 The first stanza says it all:<\/p>\n

When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom\u2019d,<\/em><\/p>\n

And the great star early droop\u2019d in the western sky in the night,<\/em><\/p>\n

I mourn\u2019d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whitman never mentions Lincoln\u2019s name, but does allude to the passage of the assassinated president\u2019s coffin as it traveled by train from Washington, D.C. to its final resting place in Springfield, Illinois.\u00a0 The image of lilacs speaks of spring, beauty and the persistence of memory.\u00a0 When I go to Central New York State in the summer, I see lilac bushes hugging the sides of the old Greek Revival farmhouses, in what used to be called dooryards.\u00a0 Often, the men or women who planted them are long gone from this world.\u00a0 The farmhouses are sometimes abandoned and collapsing in on themselves, but the fragrant shrubs endure.<\/p>\n

Lilac–Syringa species and hybrids–like its relative and springtime companion, forsythia, appears nondescript for fifty weeks every year. While the shrubs have the benefit of attractive heart-shaped leaves, their full-time allure is still limited.<\/p>\n

For about two weeks in mid spring, however, lilacs are glorious, combining exquisite flowers, gorgeous color\u2014including blue, purple, blue-purple, pink, white and creamy yellow\u2013and ravishing fragrance.\u00a0 It\u2019s enough to make you want to stage a festival to celebrate them, which is exactly what they do in Rochester, New York, every year during the first week of May.\u00a0 Highland Park, a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed masterpiece, is home to Rochester\u2019s formidable lilac collection, which draws thousands of visitors every year at lilac time.<\/p>\n

Rochester is a long way from the mountains of southeastern Europe, where Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, originated. \u00a0It was probably introduced to northern and western Europe in the sixteenth century and it caught on.\u00a0 The species may not have the showy panicles of modern varieties and hybrids, but its alluring fragrance attracted admirers.\u00a0 Considering the array of foul smells that confronted the average European at the time, it\u2019s no wonder that lilacs grew popular.<\/p>\n

We in North America probably first imported lilacs during the colonial period.\u00a0 That great gardener, Thomas Jefferson, installed the shrubs at Shadwell, the plantation where he was born, and at Monticello. \u00a0Clearly, he knew a good thing when he saw and smelled one.<\/p>\n

Modern lilac breeding owes much to the Lemoine family of Nancy, France, who bred and sold plants from 1849 through 1960.\u00a0 Three generations of Lemoines were responsible for introducing over 200 cultivars, some of which of which are still obtainable. \u00a0Victor Lemoine\u20141823-1911\u2013 the family patriarch, also gave the world the first double-flowered lilac. His oeuvre includes gorgeous, voluptuous doubles, like the purple \u2018Alphonse Lavall\u00e9e, introduced in 1885 and awarded the Royal Horticultural Society\u2019s Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1893; the pinkish purple \u2018Claude Bernard\u2019, introduced in 1915; and \u2018Miss Ellen Willmott, a double white variety, named for the great English gardener, and introduced in 1903. \u00a0The Lemoines brought out many fine single varieties as well. \u00a0Even now, lilacs from the Lemoine era in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are known as \u201cFrench lilacs,\u201d because of the family\u2019s preeminent place in the lilac breeding world.<\/p>\n

But not all good lilacs originated in France.\u00a0 Father John L. Fiala was a mid twentieth century Catholic priest, educator and author of the book, Lilacs: The Genus Syringa<\/em>.\u00a0 Father Fiala spent much of his life studying, growing and hybridizing lilacs, introducing over 50 named varieties, including the beautiful, \u2018Wedgewood Blue\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the last few decades, the lilac world has also been enriched by the introduction of reblooming varieties like \u2018Bloomerang\u2019 and \u2018Baby Kim\u2019, dwarf \u00a0shrubs that blooms in spring and follow with further flushes later in the season.\u00a0 Growing about three feet tall and wide, they are a good choice for small space or container gardens.<\/p>\n

While I admire the desirable traits of the reblooming varieties, I will always choose the old-fashioned once-bloomers as long as I have the space.\u00a0 The flower panicles are more lush and the fragrance more intense.\u00a0 There are many things that I enjoy only once a year and I am perfectly content to let lilacs be among them.\u00a0 The anticipation makes the annual flower show even more glorious.<\/p>\n

Of course, lilac breeding continues and every year the array of choices on the market grows larger. \u00a0Before you invest, however, make sure you can provide your shrubs with the right conditions.\u00a0 To produce those magnificent blooms, lilacs need either a dormant period\u2013often about eight weeks\u2013of winter temperatures at or below forty degrees Fahrenheit or, for those in warmer climates, several months of real or artificially induced drought in the summer. \u00a0Lilac fanciers in climates that do not meet those requirements should either look for hybrids and\/or species that are adapted to local conditions or grow similar plants, like the so-called \u201cCalifornia lilac\u201d or Ceanothus.<\/p>\n

Full sun, which means at least six hours of direct sunlight per day, is a must, as is well-drained soil. \u00a0Lilacs tend to get \u201cleggy\u201d if not pruned, reaching ever higher to catch the sun and producing flowers only at the tops of the branches. \u00a0If your shrub is completely out of control and you don\u2019t mind missing a year of blooms, cut the whole thing to within a foot of the ground in February or early March. \u00a0Otherwise, do the same thing to one third of the oldest, largest stems.\u00a0 By the end of three years, the plant will be completely rejuvenated.\u00a0 Add color underneath the shrub by installing various spring-flowering bulbs or annual pansies, followed by summer and fall annuals and perennials.<\/p>\n

Local nurseries and garden centers often stock several lilac varieties.\u00a0 If you want a more comprehensive selection, try Forestfarm, 14643 Watergap Rd, Williams, OR 97544,\u00a0 541-846-7269; www.forestfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Print catalog available.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blooming lilacs in my garden are a joyful celebration of spring, but also remind me of \u201cWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom\u2019d,\u201d Walt Whitman\u2019s beautiful 1865\u00a0 elegy to Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated on April 14 of that year.\u00a0 The first stanza says it all: When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom\u2019d, And … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[2509,1078,2508,790,2507,2042,1390],"class_list":["post-3397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-fiala-lilacs","tag-fragrant-shrubs","tag-lemoine-lilacs","tag-lilac","tag-reblooming-lilacs","tag-spring-blooming-shrubs","tag-syringa-vulgaris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3399,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions\/3399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}