186 



II UKT I CULTURE 



August 18, 1917 



r 



THE LILACS 



P 



The Lilac of old guriiuus wilU its 

 purple or while fraurant flowers, 

 hardy, long-lived, easily Increased by 

 shoots from the roots, resistant to all 

 sorts of climate, known to every boy 

 and girl brought up In the country, 

 is In Now England what "The May" 

 (Crataegus) is in Old Kngland, the 

 best loved of all shrubs. It is loved 

 but not respected. No one hesitates 

 to break down a Lilac-bush tor the 

 flowers. Without the protection of 

 special policemen the Arboretum 

 Lilacs would be exterminated in a 

 day. It is impossible to protect Lilac 

 flowers in public parks and city 

 squares, and ever>' year city hawkers 

 in search of them extend their depre- 

 dations further into the suburbs; and 

 in Lilac season automobiles loaded 

 with stolen mutilated Lilac branches 

 covered with wilted flowers are com- 

 mon objects along all the roads lead- 

 ing into Boston. 



The first Lilac to get a place in 

 European garden was the plant which 

 only slightly modified is still to be 

 found growing in the neighborhood 

 of many old New England farm- 

 houses. This plant, (Sj/rinj;a vulgaris) 

 reached western Europe in 1597 by 

 the way of Constantinople and Vienna. 

 It was long believed to have come 

 originally from Persia and it is only 

 in comparatively recent years that it 

 has been known that this Lilac was a 

 native of the mountain forests of Bul- 

 garia. Plants raised at the Arboretum 

 from seeds of the wild Bulgarian plants 

 are growing with the other Lilacs in 

 the collection, and it is interesting to 

 compare the flowers of the wild type 

 with those which cultivators have pro- 

 duced in the last half century. An- 

 other Lilac, the so-called Persian Lilac 

 (Syringa persica), a native of the re- 

 region from the Caucausus to Afghan- 

 istan, was known in England as early 

 as 1658. This is a smaller plant than 

 the common Lilac, with slender stems, 

 narrower leaves, and smaller but very 

 fragrant flowers. The flowers are pale 

 lilac color but there is a form with 

 nearly white flowers, and one on which 

 the leaves are deeply divided (var. 

 laciniata). The Persian Lilac blooms 

 usually ten days later than the com- 

 mon Lilac and is a beautiful garden 

 plant, but is probably less often culti- 

 vated than it was a century ago. It 

 is of particular interest, however, as 

 one of the parents of the first hybrid 

 Lilac, the other being Syringa vul- 

 garis. This hybrid appeared in the 

 Botanic Garden at Rouen, France, early 



hi lliu iuiiL'U:ciitli century and through 

 a mistaken iilea of Its origin was 

 named Syringa chincnsis. It is some- 

 times called Syringa rolhomagcnsis. 

 This hybrid Is one of the most valua- 

 ble of all Lilacs. It grows quickly to 

 a large size; it is very hardy and 

 blooms freely every year. In shape 

 (he leaves resemble those of the Per- 

 sian Lilac but are broader: the flow- 

 ers, too. recall those of the Persian 

 Lilac, but they are larger and are pro- 

 duced in long massive clusters some- 

 times nearly two feet in length, and 

 so heavy that the slender branches do 

 not well support them. The flowers 

 are reddish purple but there are forms 

 with darker red flowers and with 

 nearly white flowers. 



In a recent issue of The Garden 

 Magazine. Mr. Theodore A. Havemeyer 

 describes the development of the mod- 

 ern Lilacs, which, according to him, 

 date from 1843, no mention in his 

 I aper being made of f^yringa chincn- 

 sis. In 1843 a nurseryman at Liege, 

 in Belgiimi, produced a Lilac with 

 small double flowers. Nothing is said 

 of its parentage, but as it was called 

 Syringa vulgaris /lore pleno Liherti. 

 and later Syringa vulgaris azurea 

 plena, it was probably a seedling of 

 the common Lilac and not a hybrid. 

 This plant is not in the Arboretum col- 

 lection, and if it is known to any read- 

 er of this Bulletin the Arboretum 

 will be glad to hear from him. for al- 

 though it probably has little to recom- 

 mend it as an ormanental plant this 

 Lilac has historical interest and for 

 that reason should find a place in the 

 Arboretum collection. It was this 

 plant that Lemoine. the French hybrid- 

 izer, selected as the seed-bearing pa- 

 rent in his first attempt to improve the 

 garden Lilacs, fertilizing the flowers 

 with pollen of the handsomest varie- 

 ties of the common Lilac of that day 

 and of a Chinese species, Syringa 

 oblata. which had been found by For- 

 tune in a Shanghai garden and sent by 

 him to England nearly sixty years ago. 

 This Chinese Lilac is distinguished 

 from all other Lilacs by the broad, 

 thick, lustrous leaves which turn deep 

 wine color in the autumn. The flowers 

 are light lilac color, exceptionally 

 fragrant, and are borne in short, com- 

 pact clusters. This is one of the earl- 

 iest Lilacs to bloom here, but unfortu- 

 nately the flower-buds are often in- 

 jured or destroyed by late frosts. For 

 this reason, although the flowers are 

 not surpassed in color and fragrance 

 by those of many Lilacs, this plant 

 cannot be recommended for general 

 cultivation in this part of the country. 

 The crossing of Syringa ohlata and 

 S. vulgaris azurea plena produced a 

 plant which has been called Syringa 

 liyiirinthitlora. This is a vigorous 

 shapely shrub with leaves the shape 

 of those of its Chinese parent, which 

 turns reddish in autumn but without 

 the brilliant colors of the Chinese 

 plant. The flowers are small and 

 double, in small clusters, bluish lilac 

 and as fragrant as those of .S. ohlata. 



This plant is interesting us the second 

 oi the four Bpecles-hybrlds of Lilacs 

 which are now known, and valuable 

 for Its very early fragrant flowers. It 

 has probably played, too, an important 

 part In the improvement of the 

 double-Howered forms of the common 

 Lllnc which have been produced In re- 

 cent years by Lenioino and other Euro- 

 pean nurserymen. Syringa hyacinthi- 

 flora Is not often found In American 

 gardens, but It Is well established In 

 the Arboretum collection. 



By fertilizing the flowers of Syringa 

 lulgaris a:urca plena with the varie- 

 ties of the common Lilac Lemoine pro- 

 duced the first important double-flow- 

 ered Lilacs, .S. l.cmuinei and others, 

 and by again crossing these with im- 

 jiroved forms of the common Lilac the 

 double-flowered Lilacs of recent years 

 have been made. By the crossing of 

 varieties and by careful selection the 

 flowers of the common Lilac have been 

 gradually changed in size and in color 

 in the last thirty years, but vmfortu- 

 nately the flowers of some modern 

 Lilacs have lost a good deal of the 

 fragrance of the old-fashioned Lilac, 

 which, once enjoyed, is never forgot- 

 ten. There are too many varieties of 

 the common Lilac now cultivated. 

 Some of them with different names 

 given to seedlings in different nur- 

 series and often in different countries 

 are identical, and others are so much 

 alike that they can only be distin- 

 guished by close comparison. There 

 are more than two hundred of these 

 named varieties of Syringa vulgaris 

 now in cultivation. It is important to 

 cultivate them all in the Arboretum 

 for study and comparison, but in a pri- 

 vate garden everything that is best in 

 the forms of Syringa vulgaris can be 

 found in not over a dozen of the sin- 

 gle-flowered and a dozen of the double- 

 flowered forms. The Arboretum does 

 not undertake to name the twenty-four 

 best varieties. The selection must be 

 left to the person who is going to 

 plant them, for no two persons agree 

 about Lilac flowers. There are be- 

 tween one hundred and sixty and one 

 hundred and seventy named varieties 

 of this Lilac in the Arboretum collec- 

 tion. 



In planting Lilacs it must be re- 

 membered that plants on their own 

 roots are superior to those which have 

 been grafted on other varieties of the 

 common Lilac, for Lilacs produce 

 many root-suckers. These often grow 

 vigorously, so that a person who buys 

 a fine named variety may In a few 

 years find that the suckers from the 

 root on which it w-as grafted have 

 overpowered and killed his named 

 variety, or that he has a bush produc- 

 ing on different l)ranches flowers of 

 his original purchase and of the stock. 

 Wurserymen also use the Privet as a 

 s^ock on which to gralt Lilacs. But 

 Lilacs should never be grafted. Al- 

 though they can be propagated In 

 winter by cuttings of hard wood, the 

 best way is to make soft wood cuttings 

 in late June or early July. American 

 nurserymen rarely adopt this method 

 for it takes a little longer to produce 

 saleable plants than it does by graft- 

 ing, but the plants on their own roots 

 are so much more valuable than graft- 

 ed plants that no one should ever buy 

 a grafted Lilac. 



— .iryiold Arhorelum Bulletin. 



