Brian Minter: Tolerant and unfussy, lilacs important for gardens

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When we think of perfume in our gardens, lilacs are still the romantic favourite. Lilacs have long played an important role in the landscape, providing colour in mid-spring, bringing us unparalleled perfume, and as a pollinator plant producing nectar and pollen for a wide range of beneficial insects.  As the importance of growing cut flowers in the home garden increases, they have become more relevant, especially the varieties that bloom a second time in late summer.

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There are dozens of lilac species and thousands of cultivars that range from one-metre ornamentals to 10-metre trees. Many of the older varieties are no longer being grown commercially in most nurseries today, but of these, the most well-known are in the syringa vulgaris, or common lilac family and they form the basis of our newer varieties. After hybridization certain strains have been improved and are now sold as French hybrids.

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Most of these beautiful hybrids have large, double-flowered trusses that are highly perfumed. The rich, deep red-purple, double-flowered Charles Joly is among the most sought after, as is the double white, Miss Ellen Willmott. Although single flowering, the darkest purple, Ludwig Spaeth, is a favourite, and the rich wine-red and white bicolour of Sensation is stunning. There are myriad beautiful varieties in a wide range of colours, now even including a soft yellow called Primrose.

These lilacs are some of our most winter hardy plants, often tolerating temperatures to Zone 2. Once established, they are very drought tolerant and probably one of the least fussy plants you can choose for today’s gardens. Lilacs need full sun and a bit of space to guarantee good air circulation around them. They need well drained soil and a good deep watering when it’s required, but they do not like wet feet.

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They prefer a drier climate, but still perform well in coastal areas. In wet, rainy springs they can get a bit of mildew and lilac blight but will grow out of it once drier summer weather prevails.

Deadheading will encourage new growth and abundant blooming. Yearly pruning, but only immediately after the first flush of flowers in the spring, not in the fall, will keep your plants compact. A quick tidy up to remove misshapen and unproductive branches and any sucker growth should do the trick.

If you’re looking for something that is in a class by itself, consider syringa reticulata Ivory Silk, also known as the Japanese tree lilac. Growing taller and wider than most other lilacs, space is required so you should consider this a lawn specimen which can be pruned to maintain a single stem. This stunning tree bears huge, foot-long panicles of creamy white flowers in late June that will perfume your entire garden. Throughout the summer the tree is densely covered with beautiful, dark green leaves, and in fall and winter the dark red-brown bark adds interesting dimension and texture to the winter landscape. It is basically trouble free, and to top it off, Ivory Silk is suitable from Zones 3-7, able to withstand below freezing temperatures.

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In our smaller gardens today the new, compact varieties have become very popular. Some of the oldest of these are the so-called Korean varieties, syringa pubescens, particularly Miss Kim. They have masses of single, highly perfumed, lavender blossoms borne on plants which can reach up to two meters, but which can easily be kept pruned lower to suit restricted spaces. Many have been grafted onto 1.5-to-2-meter stems to make attractive standard tree forms, ideal for containers or as garden focal points. I find them to be very clean plants with few insect or disease problems.

Korean lilacs have been available for several years now, but Proven Winners have branded a very compact, single-flowered variety for their Bloomerang series which are now the No. 1 lilac in today’s gardens. They grow naturally into rounded shrubs up to one metre high.  Vigorous and disease resistant, they outperform conventional lilacs with perfect flowers in shades of lavender, purple or pink covering the plant in spring and then again throughout the summer and into fall, even until the first frost.

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As a garden writer I received a sample plant of Bloomerang Dark Purple when they were first introduced many years ago. It bloomed with highly fragrant light purple single flowers the first year and settled in quite nicely.  At the end of August, it rebloomed from top to bottom. What a treat on those hot summer days to have that fragrance and a source of cut flowers.

Considered the most fragrant of the dwarfs, s. meyeri Palibin, is actually a Chinese lilac cultivar which grows more than one metre in height with light purple buds opening to white.

A recent introduction in the lilac world is a series called Flowerfesta. It, too, is a compact variety with highly perfumed single flowers and the bonus of a late season reblooming habit. Like their other compact, single-flowering cousins, they are very heat and drought tolerant. They also have a cold tolerance to Zone 3, making them viable in a wide range of garden locations across the province, and indeed, across the country.

Just think of the possibilities: in addition to being suitable for containers, these will also make a nice, low, easy-to-care-for hedge; they provide a long season of cut flowers and are pollinator and hummingbird attractors as well. Although I have not personally had a chance to assess their blooming habit yet, they are reported to bloom far longer in their initial blooming stage in May, as well as repeat blooming in late summer.

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These and other new, more compact varieties fit nicely into small space gardens and most garden stores have a good selection this time of year, so perhaps consider adding them to your landscape this spring.

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