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IN “LILACDOM”’”— «. «. wison 
Arnold 
» Arboretum 
[ EDITORS’ NOTE.—This, the eleventh article of this series, will appeal to every garden lover, since the Lilac is universally 
known and admired. It is the one flowering shrub above all others that seems to be most closely associated with the.spirit of 
the home. 
of loveliness yet to come. ]| 
ILACS are among the few hardy 
shrubs that have truly entered 
into their kingdom in the gardens 
of eastern North America. They 
need no introduc- 
tion to the readers 
of THE GARDEN 
MAGAZINE, and 
well they merit 
their popularity. 
For regions where 
cold winters are 
followed by hot, 
dry summers they 
are ideal shrubs. 
TheCommon Lilac 
(Syringa vul- 
garis) is the most 
accommodating of 
plants and thrives 
in all sorts of 
queer places and 
under all sorts of 
adverse condi- 
tions but its 
progeny and its 
congeners are 
more exacting, 
and if good re- 
sults are ex- 
pected the plants 
must be treated 
liberally. 
Now, the Com- 
mon Lilac is na- 
tive of the moun- 
tains of Bulgaria 
and was sent from Constantinople to 
Vienna about 1560. From there it soon 
reached western Europe and both pur- 
ple and white kinds were cultivated in 
1597, by Gerard in London. It is not 
known with certainty when, or by whom, 
this Lilac was introduced to North 
America but Washington wrote about 
it in his diary and planted it at Mt. 
Vernon where his plants or their de- 
scendants are growing to this day. But 
although so long cultivated in gardens 
it is only recently that its native habitat 
has become known. In the Arnold Ar- 
boretum may be seen growing specimens 
raised from seeds gathered from wild 
plants. They have narrow clusters of 
dull purplish flowers and are by no 
means attractive garden shrubs. 
During the last fifty years horticul- 
turists, especially those of France and 
in a lesser degree those of Germany, 
have paid great attention to the Com- 
mon Lilac and the result has been a 
plethora of beautiful shrubs. In fact 
virtually all the plants known in a gen- 
eral way as Lilacs have been derived 
from S. vulgaris. I shall recur to this 
point later, but it may be stated here 
_that the possibilities of improving upon 
the present-day forms of the Common 
Lilac appear to be few but there are 
other members of the kingdom possess- 
ing vast potential values. 
WHERE LILACS COME FROM 
The Lilacs, of which some twenty-five species 
are known, are all native of the Old World and 
some are shrubs and others small trees. The 
* Copyright, 1916, by Doubleday, Page & Co. 
Common Lilac (S. vulgaris) and its Hungarian 
confrére (S. Josikaea) are native of southeast- 
ern Europe; the Persian Lilac grows wild in 
southwestern Asia from the Caucasus to Af- 
ghanistan, and in the western Himalaya S. 
Give room for the Lilac. This bush of the Persian Lilac, growing in the garden of Prof. C. S. Sargent, illustrates 
the spread of the plant—21 ft. diameter 
emodi is found. All cther known species are 
natives of eastern Asia and no fewer than sev- 
enteen species are indigenous to China proper. 
Only one species (8. japonica), and that a Tree 
Lilac, is found in Japan. In the gardens of 
Peking and of other places in northern China 
the white-flowered S. affinis has been cultivated 
from time immemorial. 
All Lilaes are very hardy plants, and, the 
fact that none is native of this country notwith- 
standing, every species so far brought into cul- 
tivation has proved hardy in the Arnold Arbo- 
retum. When their wide range of distribution 
is duly considered this is remarkable. In very 
severe winters the Himalayan S. emodi suffers 
somewhat and the flowers of the Chinese SV. 
oblata are occasionally injured by late spring 
frosts but no other sort is hurt. And not only 
are Lilacs quite hardy in the colder parts of 
New England and elsewhere but they thrive 
better there than they do across the water in 
Great Britain. 
As mentioned already the ordinary colored 
and white forms of the Common Lilac will 
withstand considerable hardship and abuse but 
their progeny to give the best results demand a 
good soil and this is true for all the other 
species. A well drained, good rich loamy soil 
suits them best and if the soil contains a cer- 
tain amount of lime so much the better, for 
Lilacs generally are fond of lime. Full ex- 
posure to the sun and air is necessary and 
their beauty is displayed to best advantage 
when the plants are allowed a_sufficiency of 
space in which to develop freely. They are 
essentially plants for northern New England 
and regions with a similar climate; in southern 
New England and southward the leaves in 
summer are often temporarily disfigured by 
mildew. 
GET PLANTS ON OWN ROOTS 
A decade, or a little more, ago it was custom- 
ary to propagate Lilacs by grafting them on 
Privet (Ligustrum) stock, but this pernicious 
practice has met with the opprobrium it merits 
153 
The possible future development of this delightful family of hardy plants as here suggested opens up rich visions 
and to-day any dealer selling plants so propa- 
gated deserves to be ostracised. It is the nature 
of most Lilacs, and of the Common Lilac in par- 
ticular, to sucker freely and this alone demon- 
strates the necessity for their being on their 
own roots. If the 
plants get unshapely 
or too large, own 
root Lilacs may he 
eut almost to the 
ground with advan- 
tage for they will 
spring up and soon 
make shapely bushes 
again. Cuttings 
three to four inches 
long of thin but firm, 
half-ripened wood 
taken from mid-July 
to early in August 
and inserted on a 
spent hotbed or in 
prepared soil out-of- 
doors will root in 
about six weeks, and 
in three years make 
nice plants. Also 
they may be budded 
or grafted on seed- 
ling stock of the 
Common Lilac and 
by this method, 
although it is not 
to be recommended, 
saleable plants are 
produced in two 
years. When _ pot- 
ting the stocks care- 
fully remove all ad- 
ventitious buds; 
suckers should not 
be used as stock 
since it is impossible 
in these to control 
the development of 
adventitious buds. But, after all, there is no 
valid reason for propagating Lilacs other than 
by cuttings for by this means the particular 
variety is on its own roots and the advantage 
to the garden-lover is obvious and lasting. 
THE BEST OF THE COMMON LILACS 
In the Arnold Arboretum about one hundred 
and twenty named varieties of the Common 
Lilac are cultivated and in addition some 
twenty species and several hybrids, and the 
season of flowering lasts from about the first 
of May to the first week of July. In Highland 
Park, Rochester, N. Y., where great attention 
has been given to these plants there is the most 
complete collection of the varieties of the Com- 
mon Lilac to be found anywhere on this con- 
tinent. In all, this Park has two hundred and 
ninety-seven kinds of Lilacs and on May 22nd, 
1915—“Lilae Sunday’—hbetween the hours of 
six A. M. and eight Pp. M. some fifty to sixty 
thousand people visited this collection. 
Such collections are of great interest and of 
much educational value; but private gardens 
cannot accommodate such numbers. 
If the best only be desired no such quantity 
is necessary, for within the limits of a dozen 
the best and most desirable kinds of the Com- 
mon Lilac may be had. In recent years many 
of the seedlings raised and named and sold by 
nurserymen show no improvement on the older 
varieties. The beauty limit appears to have 
been reached and it is evident that no great 
additional improvement can now be expected 
from seedlings of the Common Lilac. But 
granted that a dozen will include all that is 
best in these plants the selection is onerous 
and difficult since individual taste is all im- 
ortant. Some people do not like the double- 
owered sorts and others have preference for 
certain shades of color. I am Hien prejudice 
or bias in these matters and of the sorts of the 
Common Lilac of proven merit in the Arnold 
Arboretum I would select the following dozen: 
Marie lLegraye, Princess Alexandre (single 
white) ; Madame Lemoine, Miss Ellen Willmott 
