THE LILAC ZONE

that I managed to ensure a truly authentic one. A nursery in New York has recently begun having it available for sale, so thankfully it appears to be available now. If you only have room for one lilac in your garden, this is the one I would recommend! Not only is it beautiful, but it smells great!

Aside from 'Blanche Sweet' going rogue on us and sporting pink blooms for the first time, the highlight of 2014 was seeing this cultivar bloom for the first time. This is my all-time favorite lilac, a double blue lilac called 'Ami Schott'. Everything about this lilac is striking. This is not one of the easiest lilacs to find and I fell victim to purchasing one that years later revealed itself to be an imposter. It was only by obtaining it through "LB"

They say that you can never have enough white lilacs to offset the others. I certainly agree when it comes to this one, called 'Slater's Elegance'. The flowers of this cultivar are huge and the petals are uniquely square-shaped. I am told that this bush tends to get leggy and as such is not the nicest seen from afar. In my opinion, the blooms more than offset any concern I have about this, so this cultivar is highlighted in my front yard.

'Silver King' is a unique lilac in that the color of its blooms is very hard to describe. The buds have a pinkish tint to them but the flowers are a silvery-blue. Honestly, this cultivar appears very similar to 'Blanche Sweet'. I don't see much of a difference. Despite the fact that 'Blanche Sweet' is classified as a hyacinthiflora and 'Silver King' as vulgaris, the two cultivars seem to bloom at the exact same time. You might recall that I have posted photos of 'Silver King' in the past. This is actually the second 'Silver King' in my possession, as after seeing the first bush bloom, I wasn't convinced that the nursery hadn't gotten it mixed up with 'Blanche Sweet'. I obtained this one from another lilac collector - and validated that my first bush is named properly - its blooms look identical to the first bush. Go figure.

'Flower City' is one of the lilacs from the "Rochester" strain, which tends to produce flowers that look like daisies. After many years of waiting, this shrub finally bloomed this year. There was never really a question of whether it was the "real McCoy" because the nursery where I purchased it is extremely cautious about selling true-to-name varieties and in fact, cultivate their own. It is one of my favorites, however, so each year that it didn't bloom was a disappointment. The flowers are a deep violet and many have streaks of white in the center.

This is 'Savonarole', described as a double-flowered lilac with "unique shades of blue". Up until 2014, I had never actually seen this cultivar in bloom, as it is not that common. Like many lilacs classified in the "blue" category, it does not actually appear very blue at all when it first blooms. Nonetheless the flowers are striking. It is only when the flowers age that you start seeing hints of pale blue in the petals.

'Christophe Columb' technically bloomed years ago the first spring after I had received it as a sucker, but the bloom was miniscule and it didn't bloom again until now. This year it bloomed profusely and reminded me why I wanted it so much. Though the bloom itself is not all that different in color to the old fashioned purple lilac, the panicles are really dense. There is just something about this lavender lilac that draws me in.

2014 was a slower year for seeing some of the lilacs bloom for the first time but I was excited to see the cultivars that did finally bloom. (Over 2 dozen cultivars still taunted me in 2014, growing bigger but choosing to refrain from blooming yet another year.) Fortunately 5 additional cultivars (including 'Rochester' and the "Martha Stewart imposter") surprised us with blooms and after waiting for a number of years to see them, it was well worth the wait!