THE LILAC ZONE

​The real 'Alice Christenson'!

The 'Alice Christianson' that I have seen is very similar to 'Ami Schott' in appearance and the flowers have been described by some to appear almost triple. I originally said that I have never had the opportunity to see this shrub personally, and thus didn't have a picture of it but I clearly was having a brain cramp at the time, as the whole reason why I purchased the imposter shrub was because of experiencing the mature shrub in bloom at the nursery! The blooms of the imposter plant did seem very familiar to me though and I realized after a couple of weeks that they were virtually identical to those of a cultivar called 'President Grevy'. I suspect that it is 'President Grevy', though for preservation purposes I will never officially deem it that.

'Romance' - This is a great lilac in the pink family. The flowers tend to be more narrow with longer stems. The blooms were small and few this first year but as the plant has matured, it has produced bigger and better blooms making me appreciate it more and more each year.

'Blue Delft' - I can't understand for the life of me why this cultivar is not being propagated for sale by nurseries. It produces blooms with the coolest shades of blue and violet. Many of the flowers have a white eye in the middle and many have multi-petaling. This Father Fiala lilac really deserves to be in more gardens. When Father Fiala's cultivars were selected for production, I'd love to know why this one was not!

'Sesquicentennial' - Everything about this lavender-hued lilac tends to be on the extreme side - how quickly it grows, the size of the panicles and the size of the flowers. It is even one of the lilacs that occasionally exhibits multiple-petaling. All in all it is a fun one to have!

'Avalanche' - Photos of individual panicles of this lilac do not really do it justice. Why did I only post this photo then? This lilac is but a baby and only had this one bloom (but it was still exciting nonetheless to see it). This Father Fiala lilac likely got its name from the fact that it grows tall and tends to be covered profusely with panicles of large white blooms. It is rather impressive as a mature plant.

'Paul Thirion' - I love everything about this double magenta lilac. The color is so striking, the scent is powerful and sweet, the panicles are packed with flowers and the individual flowers are like little works of art in their design. In my opinion, this lilac is one of the best doubles!

'Madame Charles Souchet' - Another lilac classified as "blue", the size of the panicles and the abundance of blooms that it produces makes me forget about the fact that I don't really see the blue in it. Again, when the flowers age it does tend to look more blue...

'Purple Glory' - This purple hyacinthiflora actually bloomed at the same time as the vulgaris. Though at the time it was somewhat surprising that it bloomed so much later than the rest of the early-blooming lilacs, I guess it kind of makes sense. For whatever reason, the purple vulgaris tend to bloom somewhat later than vulgaris in the other color classifications, so why would purple hyacinthiflora be any different? 

'Maurice Barres' - This lilac is classified as blue but it is one of the "blue" lilacs that makes me wonder why exactly it is classified in that color category. When the flowers age, I can sort of see some blue in them but honestly it is somewhat of a stretch. Then again, who am I to argue with the color chart experts? 

'Mme Antoine Buchner' - This lilac is a double that exhibits delicate shades of pink in its blooms. It isn't one that necessarily grabs my attention from a distance but the subtleties of the different shades of pink that the flowers produce make it quite beautiful up close.

NOT 'Alice Christianson' (Grrr!!!!) - This was the lilac of 2013 that turned out to be an imposter. Originally sold to me as 'Alice Christianson', when it finally bloomed, I was pretty bummed. This was particularly disappointing because I have not seen this cultivar offered except for one nursery and they seem to really care about selling true-to-name cultivars. That being said, I know the mix-up was unintentional.

'Frank's Fancy' - This lilac was first propagated by a nursery in southern Massachusetts called Weston Nurseries. It produces large blooms technically classified as purple (though they appear quite magenta to me) and are quite impressive. 

'Blue Delight' - This blue lilac is one of my favorites. The flowers are so close to one another that the panicles tend to look like bunches of grapes from a distance. The shrub flowers profusely so this effect is quite stunning.

2013 was a great year for seeing a number of lilacs in our collection bloom for the first time. Over a dozen lilacs revealed their blooms, including some cultivars that I had seen in collections, some only seen in photos and some that up until then I had only read a description of. It made the season a really fun one!