THE GREEN THUMB 13 
betta. Massena is a very deep red- 
purple single with cupped half-dollar- 
size florets. All men like it—many 
women like it too, especially mixed 
with white French lilacs in a bouquet. 
One interesting observation of the 
Colorado survey on the French lilacs 
is that in the pink group Colorado 
voters rate the delicately colored, al- 
most apple-blossom-pink, hundred- 
year-old variety Macrostachya ahead 
of the coral-pink variety Lucie Baltet. 
Macrostachya buds are an attractive 
soft rose-pink deep enough to contrast 
with the nearly white florets barely 
tinted pink. A mature Macrostachya 
bush loaded with blossoms is much 
admired. This old lilac deserves its 
high rating up with the finest of the 
newest novelties. 
For those who are looking for a lilac 
to fit a small space, Reaumur recom- 
mends itself for its low-growing and 
floriferous habits. D. M. Andrews 
accurately described Reaumur as: buds 
deep carmine, florets a subdued rosy- 
mauve, profuse bloomer, brilliant effect 
and rather dwarf. 
The ballots turned up with widest 
spread of votes on the old-fashioned 
Syringa vulgaris which included a full 
house with three 3s and a pair of 9s. 
The voting on Lucie Baltet ranged 
from 5s up to 9.5. Most varieties ran 
fairly consistent in ratings. 
Many French lilacs have the virtue 
of not growing as dense and tall as their 
ancestor, the old-fashioned common. 
The dark singles grow more slowly. 
They can all be kept to within five to 
eight feet by proper pruning, if they 
are on their own roots. 
Lilacs should be purchased on their 
own roots if so available. Grafted 
plants sometimes develop lilac roots 
and frequently in our soil and climate 
they do not—and if they do not they 
may die sooner or later. Lilacs, espe- 
cially those on their own roots, seldom 
die from transplanting but they resent 
it and usually bloom off-color and off- 
size the first year or two. Once their 
complicated root system gets thor- 
oughly reestablished they will pay 
dividends with beautiful fragrant blos- 
soms for a hundred years. 
Lilac Species and Hybrids 
Probably the brightest jewel among 
the hybrids is the oldest—a cross be- 
tween Syringa vulgaris and persica—in 
commerce under the names Syringa 
chinensis, rothomagensis and Rouen 
lilac. It was first found growing in the 
botanical garden at Rouen, France, 
long ago about the time George Wash- 
ington was recording in his diary his 
plantings of ‘“‘Lylacks” in his Mount 
Vernon garden. The hybrid chinensis 
comes in various colors, some of the 
selected varieties having been named. 
Its blooming season is the same as the 
French lilacs. Neither this hybrid nor 
the persica have as good lasting quali- 
ties as cut flowers as the French varie- 
ties of the common. 
The early hybrids do not seem to be 
widely grown in Colorado—there were 
votes on only two of them. 
Species such as villosa, josikaea, re- 
flexa, etc., that bloom a week or two 
later than the common (vulgaris) va- 
rieties, are surpassed by modern hy- 
brids between these species and crosses 
between these species and the common. 
The late species and late hybrids which 
