THE LILAC ZONE
2016 was another year slower for blooms than I would have liked. Considering the reality is that we tend to get 5-6 new ones blooming in most years, you would think I would be fine with it by now. Being the crazed one that I am, I guess that I always want more! Though as I mentioned on another portion of this site, we had wildly fluctuating temperatures during late winter, I think the lack of new first-time bloomers this year is still a result of our collection being crushed under feet of snow in 2015. This year we had 6 lilacs bloom for the first time, including 1 that was an imposter. Regardless, it was great to see them bloom!
The real 'Violetta'
'Edward J. Gardner' is a great double pink
lilac and is actually my favorite in that category. We lost our original shrub several years ago and had to start over, so it was great to see this one bloom for the first time this year and to know that we will be able to enjoy it blooming from now on.
'Firmanent' in full bloom
The size of the flowers on the magenta lilac, 'Arch McKean' can be enormous and because they are so large, the panicles tend to hang down like clusters of grapes. In my opinion, this is one of the most impressive of Father Fiala's lilacs.
Seeing 'Firmament' bloom for the first time was a fun experience. The flowers on this blue cultivar start out with a deep blue in the center and a violet hue around the edges, which really grabs your attention.
This lilac was supposed to be 'Violetta', which I tend to think is the most striking double violet lilac cultivar that I have seen so far. Unfortunately our original shrub died and I had to order this one from a nursery in New Jersey, as LB had retired. I was very disappointed when it bloomed this year, as you will see by the second photo below that it clearly is NOT 'Violetta'. Fortunately, another nursery is in the process of propagating it. Hopefully it will be part of our collection again in a year or two from now, as it is quite spectacular!
Not 'Violetta'
'Belle de Nancy', a double-pink lilac, certainly took its sweet time blooming for us. This year it finally graced us with a single bloom, but at least it was enough to validate that we had the real cultivar. The other 5 lilacs that we purchased from the same nursery ended up all being wrong (talk about disappointing!), so it was nice to see that this one was true-to-name!
Because of the lighting, this is not the best photograph of 'Mrs. Watson Webb' and the coloration in the photo is actually misleading. This cultivar is actually a mixed pink and when all of the flowers blossom, the panicles are quite impressive in size. I really enjoyed seeing this cultivar bloom for the first time this year. I believe that I may have a better and more accurate photo of its bloom color and will post it if that is the case.
Then, as the flowers of 'Firmament' age, they become a clear blue. I can see why everyone has raved about this lilac. Not only are the flowers beautiful, but the panicles that it produces are a good size as well.