Spring 2003
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Little Known Lilacs
The word "lilac" calls to mind opulent trusses of pale lavender, creamy white, or rich purple flowers wafting their heavenly scent about the May garden. The common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is indeed a familiar, durable, and long-cherished garden plant that made its way with early European colonists to the United States in the early 17th century. Lilacs undertook the long sea voyage as bits of roots and shoots carefully wrapped in moist burlap or bundled in straw. The common lilac proved to be extremely accommodating and long-lived in the cooler parts of the United States, where it found the cold winter temperatures it needed to mature its flower buds. Today, gnarled old lilac trees frequently mark the site of a vanished house or barn foundation, now re-engulfed by woods.
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