Lilac

The History of the Lilac

You know that animated map in the Indiana Jones movies, where we track his journey from country to country following a dotted line? One of those would be useful in showing how Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, eventually ended up in the United States.

The plant is found in almost all of North America, but it didn’t arrive here until 1750, via Puritan colonists [4] from England. Nearly 200 years earlier, it had gotten to England from France and to France from Vienna and to Vienna from Ottomans in Constantinople. It took until 1828 for naturalist Anton Rocher [5] to spot some wild lilac on the Balkan peninsula, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and identify that as its true native origin.

Now imagine the dotted line of our Indiana Jones map is jumping back across the Atlantic Ocean to New Hampshire, where lilacs became the official state flower in 1919. [6]

As any New Englander will tell you, miserable winters build character, just as Syringa couldn’t produce its spring blooms if it didn’t have the shock of winter chill. The New Hampshire declaration reads that lilac “is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State.”

On to Rochester, New York! The world’s longest-running lilac festival has been held here every year since 1898 in Highland Park. More than 1,200 bushes representing at least 500 varieties show the beloved lilac at her absolute best.

Back across the pond to England again, where we find a different Rochester—Jane Eyre’s would-be groom in Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 novel. Jane rejects Mr. Rochester’s offer of a silk wedding dress, preferring her own lilac gingham, more befitting of her youth.

There’s no way Bronte’s Victorian readers would have missed the lilac symbolism.

We’ll remain in the realm of fiction as we wrap up these lilac legends with a final fact about its genus name, Syringa. [7] It comes from a story about Syrinx, a chaste river nymph who escaped the lecherous attention of the god Pan only by transforming herself into water reeds. 

However, not the best escape option as Pan used those reeds to make his first set of pan pipes, which are also called Syrinx. What does any of this have to do with lilac? It turns out that some varieties of lilac bushes have a hollow stem that really is used to make pan pipes.

How’s that for a dizzying flight through the history of lilac?

Lilacs are the third best-selling plant in American garden stores. [8] Easy to grow, easy to care for, and early to bloom, as long as lilacs get a ton of sun and their soil isn’t soggy, they should be happy.

There are dozens of varieties and hundreds of cultivars. In North America, the common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is the shrub of choice. These deciduous bushes can grow anywhere from 6 to 30 feet tall and up to 20 feet wide. They don’t need pruning to stay healthy, only to get rid of misshapen branches or regenerate an overgrown bush.

Choose a spot that gets at least 7 hours of sun a day. Shade certainly won’t kill your lilac bushes, but they’ll grow spindly as the branches reach higher and higher in search of light. Plus, they’ll have lackluster blooms, and that’s missing the whole point of this perennial favorite.

Lilac likes slightly alkaline soil. If your soil pH runs more acidic, a handful of lime around the base of the tree or even a few shovels-full of ash from a wood stove should do the trick. You shouldn’t have to reapply more than once a year if that.

For the best blooms, deadhead your lilac bush when the flowers have turned brown. This just means snipping the dead flowers off so the plant doesn’t go to seed. You want it using its plant energy for lush leaf growth instead. Landscape designer and author Michael Weishan quotes his green-thumb grandfather in saying that lilacs thrive on benign neglect. [5]

The guidelines for growing lilac are pretty similar from variety to variety, so you can choose based on color and scent. There’s a surprising range there, too. Some are as delicate as lilac’s new-love symbolism would suggest, and some have a heavy aroma that the especially scent-sensitive might find overpowering if planted beneath a bedroom window, for example.

Chances are you don’t live more than a weekend getaway from a garden or conservatory with a lilac collection. Notable ones are in Boston at the Arnold Arboretum; Rochester, NY, at Highland Botanical Conservatory; Demoines, Iowa, at the Ewing Park Lilac Arboretum; Lombard, Illinois, at Lilacia Park; and Los Angeles in Descanso Gardens. The American Horticultural Society [9] maintains a list, and the International Lilac Society [10] can give you some suggestions as well!

Lilacs are a sweet and fragrant addition to any springtime or early summer floral arrangement.

Care tips are similar to those for most other common stems: lukewarm water, flower preservative, re-cut the stems and change the water every day if you can.

One difference between lilac and lots of other blooms is that the stems are woody. So instead of cutting them on an angle to expose more of the vascular system through which the flower “drinks,” you’ll want to split each stem. [1] To do this, just cut an X shape into the bottom, up to four inches deep. This will expose a lot of the soft center of the stem and help it take up more water.

People used to recommend pounding woody stems to expose the vascular system, but the folks at Chrysal Flower Food say that’s an old school idea. Pounding just wounds the tissues and “opens up a juice bar for bacteria,” [2] not to mention triggering ethylene production that makes the blooms wilt much faster.

Remove any leaves that would be below the waterline of your vase. These get gross quickly and lead to that funky smell. If the water in your vase starts to look cloudy, that means there’s bacteria forming, and it’s time for fresh water and more flower preservative.

Putting your lilac bouquet in the refrigerator or in a cool basement at night can help keep the blooms fresher longer. Keep the vase out of bright sunlight and away from drafts that can dehydrate and fade the lilacs’ colors.

Lilacs aren’t the longest-lasting blooms out there—you may get two days, or you may get five until they start to look droopy—but they’ll pack a fragrant punch while they last.