The Other Lilacs
This year Shelburne museum celebrated lilac season on May 15, the date chosen to coincide with the peak bloom time in Vermont for the many lilac bushes, mostly Syringa vulgaris, that dot the grounds.
And in our garden, where we are about 1000 feet higher, our lilac bushes, also Syringa vulgaris, (they have been here for over 50 years now and are almost like small trees at this point) had completely finished blooming by the end on May.
Common lilacs are wonderfully hardy shrubs beloved by northern gardeners. Over the years they have come to symbolize both the emergence of spring after a long cold winter, and the resilience of early settlers who carried small plants with them as they journeyed to a new life.
Common lilacs also have their drawbacks. Their bloom time is brief…lasting no more than a week. And, for the gardener, they are not the most well behaved shrubs to have in a flower bed, as they tend to sprout thick suckers in a quite a wide circle about the parent plant.
But we love their fragrance and their message of spring, gladly putting up with the inconvenience of having to cut out suckers on a regular basis.
June flowering lilacs
Most lilac lovers also welcome the ‘other lilacs‘ that put on their show in June. By adding a few to your garden you can enjoy lilacs in bloom for a full six weeks of spring. I grow several kinds, and I never tire of my extended lilac season.
Swallowtail butterflies love lilacs
Besides, all lilacs are very much enjoyed by the swallowtail butterflies which, around these parts, generally do not arrive in any numbers until June….missing the common lilac flowers by about ten days. But once they arrive they swarm all over the June-blooming bushes. Another reason to grow some of these other lilacs!
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A row of Syringa meyeri creates an informal hedge
Dwarf Korean Little-leaf lilac
The first of the ‘other lilacs’ to flower in my garden is the dwarf Korean Little-leaf lilac, Syringa meyeri ‘Paliban’. It has lots of smallish lilac-colored fragrant flowers and its rounded leaves are…true to name… petite and tidy, so it also makes a good backdrop for nearby perennials that come into flower later in the season.
It is a gem of a small shrub, that works nicely when planted in groups. Some years back now I used five of these shrubs to create a low-growing hedge in the bed outside our bedroom window. The bushes fill in by making suckers. However (unlike the common lilac) I have not found it a problem to keep these suckers in check in the bed.
Littleleaf lilacs remain about 4 feet high without the need for excessive pruning.
Flowers of ‘Miss Kim’ lilac
‘Miss Kim’ Lilac
Miss Kim lilac, Syringa pubescens subsp. patula, is the next to flower in my garden. I love its big floppy panicles of pale lilac colored flowers that, like all lilacs, become butterfly magnets.
Miss Kim is certainly deservedly popular among gardeners. Not only does she sport lovely fragrant flowers in June, but her leaves take on a beautiful bronze color in the fall.
A five year old Miss Kim
Maybe lured by her diminutive name gardeners tend to use Miss Kim lilacs into fill in small gaps around the place.
But beware: Miss Kim is no diminutive lady! Left un-pruned, in a few years she will grow quite large…easily to 7 feet high and wide. And I have seen a very old un-pruned Miss Kim growing to 12 feet high and wide. So take this into consideration as you choose a spot for her.
For the last two weeks of June my Minuet lilac is covered in flowers
Preston Lilacs
100 years ago successful plant hybridist Isabella Preston was busy at work hybridizing lilacs at the Ottawa Experimental Farm. And her crosses of Syringa reflexa with S. villosa earned her a place in history with her line of late blooming Preston lilacs.
Preston lilacs are really nice garden shrubs for the back of a bed. They grow about 7-8 feet tall and they do not sucker! And in my garden they bloom prolifically towards the end of June, along with the iris and geraniums.
Preston lilacs mix beautifully with Siberian Iris, ‘Crater Lake Blue’ Veronica and geranium sanguinium
I have two. Miss Canada blooms first; she is pleasant rosy-pink and has an open structure.
But it is the lilac colored Minuet which is the real show-stopper. People passing by on the road stop to ask what it is! This is a really dense shrub that for almost two weeks is truly ‘covered in flowers’. It makes a beautiful match with the ‘Perry’s Blue’ Siberian Iris that flower at the same time.
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A mature Japanese Tree Lilac at Rocky Dale Gardens in Bristol, VT
Japanese Tree Lilac
While we do not have a tree lilac in our garden Dick took this picture of this amazing mature specimen in full glory at nearby Rocky Dale Gardens.
The creamy-white flowers of the tree lilac are composed of large panicles, making it really a showy specimen.
The tree lilac is also renowned as ‘one tough tree’ for cold and difficult sites. And since tree lilacs are also salt tolerant they are sometimes planted as street trees.
So what about an ever-blooming lilac??
A couple of years back now Proven Winners introduced a newly hybridized cultivar they called ‘Boomerang’ which they claimed would be ever-blooming. And suddenly a huge controversy, started by an article in the on-line magazine Slate erupted on the Internet.
For some people the very idea of having a lilac that would still be in bloom in September was a complete travesty. They felt it would completely ruin the specialness of the brief spring season, and everything that lilacs have come to signify.
But for busy homeowners, perhaps juggling a career and little kids and looking for a splash of color in a suburban garden throughout the season, it is clearly a marvel of modern hybridization, and would be a blessing. I can empathize with this point of view, as I have been there too!
One also has to admire the tenacity and ingenuity of Tim Wood, the man behind Boomerang. The story of how he did this feat provides a fascinating insight into breeding techniques that can result in the whiz-bang plant introductions that drive today’s horticultural industry.
It seems to boil down to how ones garden reflects a sense of place. My Vermont country garden is a celebration of the ever-changing seasons of New England and their reflections in my garden. And a lilac blooming alongside fall asters, black-eyed Susans and tall waving grasses would definitely seem out of place. So I will not be tempted by Boomerang or any of its counterparts at this point in my life or for my particular garden!
But I still have room in my heart and in my garden for the other lilacs, the ones that bloom in June alongside the irises and bring us swarms of butterflies to enjoy.