Starlight PA
2008

What better way to celebrate the change of seasons than with the flower that seems to announce the transition from spring to summer? Lilacs have long been a beloved flower and source of inspiration for artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.

Lilacs are easy-to-grow, shrubs with fragrant purple flowers that bloom in spring. They attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators and make perfect cut flowers.


Lilac flowers may be single or double, the leaves solid green or variegated, and the plants dwarf or standard. Lilac flower colors may be white, violet, pink, blue, and lilac (of course) to red-purple, dark purple, and even a yellow variety known as “Primrose.” One of the most fantastic lilac varieties planted on Mackinac Island in recent decades, known as “Sensation,” features picotee flowers with white edges on red-purple.

Lilac bushes are not native to North America. The Common Lilac originated in Eastern Europe in the mountains of Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania. For centuries, the Turks cultivated the species. Then, in the 1500s, lilac bushes arrived in Vienna and Paris. The French developed so many varieties that Common Lilac is often called French hybrid or simply French Lilac. Finally, these European specimens made the journey to the New World, and lilac bushes graced the gardens of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.