It's lilac time here in Wisconsin, so of course... off to the Arboretum I go!
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| Lilacs blooming at the Arboretum |
The
UW-Madison Arboretum has an awesome collection of hundreds of lilacs in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The mid-season lilacs would normally bloom here in May, but in this odd year of 2012 are at their peak in April. Here were some of my favorites - these are all cultivars of
syringa vulgaris (aka common lilac or French lilac).
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Henri Martin' |
My favorite color of lilacs is... well - lilac!
'Henri Martin' has big beautiful double flowers in a rich shade of that classic lilac color. I gave each lilac a sniff as I strolled through the gardens, and I noticed that not all lilacs have the same fragrance. Some have a flat, almost unpleasant scent, and some have no detectable fragrance at all. 'Henri Martin' had the sweetest, most powerful fragrance of all I encountered - my nose wanted to live in this flower!
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Paul Deschanel' |
I also really love the dark purple cultivars. I saw quite a few standouts - 'Declaration', 'Prince Wolkonsky', 'Yankee Doodle'.
'Paul Deschanel' had gorgeous mulberry colored buds and was perhaps my favorite in this color class.
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Marie Frances' |
There are not many pink lilacs. Some that are called "pink" are really more of a pink-ish violet color.
'Marie Frances' had true pink flowers of an otherworldly delicate beauty.
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Mount Baker' |
White lilacs can be very elegant.
'Mount Baker' and 'Edith Cavell' were my favorite whites, but 'Mount Baker' had a much more powerful fragrance. The bush was absolutely covered with exuberant blooms.
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Primrose' |
There are no truly yellow lilacs, but
'Primrose' is a soft cream color with yellowish buds. It's a nice soft color for a spot where pure white might be too harsh or glaring. It sets off other more traditionally colored lilacs nicely.
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Martha Stewart' |
I loved the cool gray-blue shade of this
'Martha Stewart' lilac. This is also an unusual color in lilacs.
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| Syringa vulgaris (common lilac) 'Emile Lemoine' |
'Emile Lemoine' is a gorgeous lilac - full soft double flowers of a pearly pinkish lavender. It just looks so French, doesn't it?
There were dozens more beauties, and I probably only managed to see 1/3 of the vast collection... I returned home to my own lilac, looking so ordinary and unexotic there all by himself in the corner of my yard... But even the basic
syringa vulgaris var. purpurea puts on a great show, and it actually has a more powerful scent than most cultivars!
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| My own lilac - basic syringa vulgaris var. purpurea |
How wonderful, to be able to become a lilac connoisseur in that beautiful arboretum! Like wine-tasting, and in its own way almost as intoxicating, I would imagine.
ReplyDeleteI wish it would last forever, especially the fragrance. I dreamed last night that I was smelling lilacs! That's what a day at the Arboretum will do to your head :-)
DeleteThese are so very beautiful! I love the colors! Thanks for sharing these lovely lilacs!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sage, I love the colors of lilacs - they look so great when there are many blooming together, to set each other off. If only I had several acres! But we are so fortunate to have public spaces like the Arboretum where we can enjoy grand displays like this.
DeleteI love the photo of White lilac 'Primrose' and 'Mount Baker',they are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe white ones are so elegant, aren't they? 'Mount Baker' had an astonishingly strong fragrance as well.
DeleteOh, these are gorgeous! Seeing lilacs in pictures always makes me sad that they don't grow here. :( I'll just have to imagine walking through all those lilacs and having that wonderful scent in the air.
ReplyDeleteFinally something that grows in my area but not yours! :-) Mostly it's the other way around of course...
DeleteThank you for sharing these beauties! We have to travel to the local mountains to see lilacs. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and remember the lilacs my mother had along the wall of an old barn. I can still remember the fragrance. Now I must take a trip to the mountains to bring home armloads of lilacs! You are a lucky girl to have them so near.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful memory! Lilac gathering makes a nice excuse for a fun trip to the mountains too!
DeleteLilacs remind me of my childhood; we had a tree I used to stand in to have a picture every year. Now I prefer them in someone else's garden as they are rather boring after flowering time, but what a joy to be able to see so many locally. Thanks for sharing. Christina
ReplyDeleteYes, they definitely recede into the background (at BEST) after flowering. You don't see too many close-ups of lilac foliage for a reason. I'm glad mine is tucked into an inconspicuous corner of the yard. It doesn't bother me much when bloom time is over.
DeleteI love the fragrance of the lilac and the dark purple one is my favourite. My neighbour has a white one but they look awful once the blooms start to go over. My only complaint is that they don't flower for long enough and they can be pretty invasive.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, they sucker like mad things don't they? I guess you can't have everything! I'm willing to put up with quite a bit in return for fragrance. I like the really dark colors a lot too, but annoyingly those don't ever seem to be very fragrant.
DeleteI've decided to get rid of my common lilac because it's in too much shade and hardly flowers any more, but i was thinking of getting a cultivar and planting it somewhere else, so your post is timely for me! I think the cultivars give better value for the space, but I do have a question: do they flower longer than the common lilac, and if so, which ones flower the longest?
ReplyDeleteThe cultivars are definitely more refined and have larger and much more beautiful flowers. (Greater color range too.) I don't think they flower any longer - about 2 weeks or so? Lilacs are one of those fleeting joys of the garden. :-)
DeleteI was afraid you were going to say that...I'm not sure I'm willing to give a rare sunny spot to such a large shrub that only flowers for 2 weeks and then looks pretty ordinary. If I had a country garden, I'd have masses of them.
DeleteI inherited several lilac bushes from our home's previous owner including a common lilac, a white lilac and several other unknown varieties. Seeing you post makes me want to rush out and add a few more. One can never have too many lilacs! LOL
ReplyDeleteIn lilac season I always want to plant like six of them! (Actually I'm like that in pretty much every season - when the peonies are blooming want more of them, rose-time, iris-time, same deal... )
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