It’s almost Bloom time, that weekend in the Irish gardening year when we collectively convince ourselves that the sun shines in Ireland all year round and that picnics on the lawn dressed in boater hats and gingham sundresses are a good idea.
Brian Minter: Tolerant and unfussy, lilacs play important role in gardens
14.05.2024 - 15:17 / theprovince.com / Brian Minter
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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.
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.
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
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