WOODY ORNAMENTALS 



LILACS 

 Ann Tighe Lilac 



The purple lilac is the State 

 Flower of New Hampshire. The 

 New Hampshire Federation of 

 Garden Clubs has undertaken the ac- 

 cumulation of a fund for lilac re- 

 search at the New Hampshire Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. Natu- 

 rally, the breeding of new varieties 

 is undertaken as a part of this pro- 

 gram. The first crosses were made 

 in 1940 with double, dark-colored 

 flowers of large size as the objectives. 

 One of the seedlings of Volcan, the 

 pollen parent unknown, was the out- 

 standing plant of this group which 

 flowered in 1945. It produces large 

 clusters, and the semi-double florets 

 are very large and almost as rich in 

 color as Volcan. The first outstand- 

 ing seedling, selected as a memorial 

 to the late Mrs. Anne Tighe of Sal- 

 mon Falls, N. H., because of her 

 / active support of lilac work, was 

 given her name. 



Other Lilac Breeding 



A study of the important lilac 

 varieties which are growing in the 

 University Lilac Arboretum shows 

 that really fine pink varieties are 

 missing. Crosses were made in 1944 

 in an attempt to develop such a good 

 pink. The most satisfactory pink 

 variety in the planting was Lucie 

 Baltet, and it was thought that per- 

 haps if this variety were crossed with 

 a white variety a reasonable propor- 

 tion of pinks might result. Crosses 

 were made between Lucie Baltet and 

 Madame Fernande Viger, Frau Bertha 

 Damman, Jeanne de Arc, and the 

 common white lilac (Vulgaris alba). 

 More than 150 seedlings were pro- 

 duced from these crosses. Nearly all 

 blossomed in 194B, but not one pro- 

 duced flowers of a desirable pink 

 color. There were a few light blues, 



but nearly all ran from light purple 

 to very dark purple. Therefore, it 

 is evident that color in common li- 

 lacs is due to complimentary genes. 



Some of the new Canadian va- 

 rieties have come from crosses be- 

 tween the species Syringa villosa and 

 Syringa reflexa. Some are quite 

 satisfactory pinks, which, blooming 

 much later than common lilacs, 

 escape the spring frosts which often 

 damage Syringa vulgaris. To try 

 to get better late varieties, open- 

 pollinated seeds from three varieties, 

 Hedin, Royalty, and Coral, were 

 planted. Nearly all the seedlings 

 from these plants, which were started 

 in 1945, blossomed in 1948. There 

 was a wide range of color in the 

 flowers and a wide range in the 

 height and characteristics of the 

 plants. All were late flowering. 

 Four seedlings of Royalty parentage 

 were marked as particularly desir- 

 able and propagated by soft wood 

 cuttings for further observation. 



Several attempts have also been 

 made to try to cross Syringa Japon- 

 ica the Asiatic tree lilac (which pro- 

 duces white flowers with a strong 

 odor in large clusters very late in 

 the season) and the common lilac. 

 To date, only one seedling has been 

 produced, and this may be a hybrid. 

 This cross was made by Henry Clapp 

 in 1944. Up to this time it has not 

 flowered, but is making a very vigor- 

 ous growth, and we hope that it may 

 blossom before long. Should it 

 prove to be a cross and fertile, we 

 may have here the beginning of a 

 new group of colored tree lilacs that 

 bloom far later than anything of 

 that kind we have had heretofore. 



Crosses were attempted again in 

 1949, using S. Japonica as the fe- 

 male parent and villosa x reflexa 

 seedlings as pollen. Seed pods de- 

 veloped in abundance but none con- 

 tained seed. 



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