
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Emile Lemoine, of Nancy, France, for permission to quote from his 
catalog; to the Macmillan Company for permission to reprint extracts from Mrs. McKelvey’s monograph, 
The Lilac; to the Stratford Company for permission to quote from Wilson’s America’s Greatest Garden and 
Aristocrats of the Garden; and to Houghton MiftHin Company for permission to reprint extracts from Amy 
Lowell’s poem, ‘‘Lilacs.’’ 
The Lilac still blooms beside the deserted homes of the pioneers. 
prlstlaccs 
False blue, White, Purple, Colour of lilac... 
You are of elm-shaded streets with little shops where they sell kites 
and marbles, 
You are of great parks where everyone walks and nobody is at home.. 
You are the smell of allsummers, the love of wives and children, 
The recollections of the gardens of little children, 
You are State Houses and Charters 

And the familiar treading of the foot to and fro on a road it knows.” 
Amy Lowell 
DUA Cxo Eo EE RD ASeeAIN Darl @ [Asys 
Ever since the days when George Washington planted “lylacks”’ in 
his garden at Mount Vernon the Lilac has played a significant role in the 
life of our country. Brought to us from Europe, it readily adapted itself 
to its new environment and is today an integral part of the great American 
tradition. In spite of this fact many beautiful forms of the Modern 
Lilac have yet to find a place in our gardens. 
There are now some thirty known Lilac species—all but two of them 
discovered by dauntless plant collectors in the crumbling temples, the 
ancient high-walled gardens and the remote mountain fastnesses of the 
9 
. _ . 
