FASHION is fickle. Everyone says they love lilacs, yet no one seems to buy them. You see them in older gardens, but seldom in new. Nurserymen tell us that gardens have become smaller and garden-lovers want plants that will earn their keep all year round. It is true that one lilac takes up space that might more profitably be filled by dozens of bulbs and hardy perennials and yet…
There are something between 12 and 25 species of Syringa. This botanical vagueness arises because the Chinese species have been insufficiently collected and studied. Moreover, the experts say that lilacs are close to privets —and many species look more like Ligustrum than Syringa. What most of us call garden lilacs descend from sweet-scented Syringa vulgaris, which grows wild in Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Also important is S. josikaea from the Transylvanian mountains, which blooms rather later. Its individual flowers are longer, but, alas, have little scent.
This story is from the February 02, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
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This story is from the February 02, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
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