HEAVEN SCENT LILACS
Enjoy these lofty beauty queens until late spring
THANK goodness for lilacs. Common as cabbages they may be, but among latespring shrubs they’re the beauty queens. Tall, with showy flowers in gentle colours, they’re impossible not to admire. In normal years, lilacs would be approaching their best by now. But pushed on by the March heat wave, some were whacked by April frosts. Luckily, most carried plenty of undamaged buds and are currently rushing into bloom.
Lilacs develop naturally as small, multi- trunked trees rather than bushes. That can be an advantage if you underplant them with lower-growing shrubs or herbaceous plants. Their size can be controlled by careful pruning. They can also be grown as informal hedging.
Flower colours range from white through soft mauve-blue or pale pink to deeper violet or purple-red. White varieties are cream as they open, maturing to pure white. All those colours harmonise sweetly, so a random lilac group becomes a natural work of art.
To flower well, lilacs need sun. Being tall, that is seldom a problem but in small gardens, mature plants take lots of space. There are compact varieties, but those lack the regal qualities of their tall, more spready relatives.
LITTLE AND LARGE
THE garden lilac’s wild forebear, Syringa vulgaris, is native to Eastern Europe.
Totally hardy and growing up to 7 m high, it carries fragrant, lilac- mauve or white flower clusters. Another wild species, S. oblata, was crossed with common lilac to produce hybrids known as S. hyacinthiflora.
Those gave rise to superb varieties, each with bolder, longer flower clusters in several colours. Pink flowered Esther Staley and mauve-lilac Clarke’s Giant are lovely examples.
With so many lilacs in cultivation, choosing can be difficult. Their subtle colouring makes it hard to know how accurate printed or online pictures are.
That’s why it’s best to see lilacs ‘in the flesh’ before making your choices. Most good public parks have lilacs.
As for growing conditions, lilacs are easy to please. The ideal soil is humus-rich, fertile and well drained. But I’ve seen lilacs thriving on claggy London clay. And they’re hardy enough to survive a brutal winter.
PLENTY OF CHOICE
IF PLANTING several, I’d want to include one white variety. Double- flowered Madame Lemoine is the finest, looking lovely with dark purple Charles Joly or pale mauve-blue Katherine Havemeyer. There are lots more, most with subtle colour differences. Two I fancy are gentle lilac-pink Gloire de La Rochelle and Marechal Foch.
Among oddities, Primrose is optimistically described as yellow, but the pale yellow buds open to milk- coloured flowers. There’s also a bi-colour called Sensation, whose purple-red petals have showy white margins.
For small spaces, there are dwarf varieties. The best known, Syringa meyeri Palibin, has small leaves and clusters of tiny pink flowers. It’s not unattractive, but pictures make it look prettier than in reality.
More beautiful, S. pubescens or Miss Kim has clusters of tiny blue-flushed pink flowers. You can find S. meyeri Flowerfesta White, which looks terrific on crocus.co.uk.
Whether planted now or in October, flowering will be exactly the same next May.
Exasperated after the recent weather? You’re not alone. abnormal March heat and the dry but frosty april were both harmful to plants. But this week’s May gales were the last straw.
Bank Holiday Monday found me wailing at the wind and rain. that was after finding whiplashed perennials, smashed down narcissus and frost-nipped wisteria buds.
It looks bad, but it’s not disastrous. Much of Britain has now had desperately needed rain. plants have begun to respond and lengthening days will soon return our gardens to spring health.
I’m sure that with a little extra care, we can speed up that recovery. Here’s what you can do:
FIrst, check plants which, after premature March growth were zapped by frosts. prune away dead stems and pick off any frost-hit flower buds.
HerBaceous plants should recover unaided. But cut back any frost-ruined stems to encourage new basal shoots. If you planted dahlias too early, remove any blackened shoots.
roses (pictured) and other shrubs may carry frost-nipped shoots or buds. remove those or shorten frosted stems cutting above the highest, healthy, outward pointing bud.
don’t worry about droughtstricken lawns: all they need is water and warmth.
FInallY, don’t despair. However stricken you garden may look this week, have faith in its recovery.