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(5) Common lilacs
Common lilacs are the most important cultivated breed of the lilac species (Syringa vulgaris). The numerous varieties of the common lilac have been created by selection and breeding.
Syringa vulgaris 'Katharine Havemeyer': a French lilac with a purple flower colour and...
From £16.40 *
Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation': a sensational looking and smelling lilac with...
From £16.40 *
More information about common lilacs
Newer varieties convince with their robustness and compact growth. You will find a large selection of fine lilac varieties here in the Lubera® Garden Shop.
Table of contents
The diversity of common lilac varieties
Common lilacs are engagingly fragrant, nostalgic, romantic flowering shrubs that come in a wide range of varieties. Whether double and single-coloured like the 'Souvenir d'Alice Harding' or two-coloured with single blooms like 'Sensation' - one variety is more fragrant than the other. Deciding which variety of lilac to plant in your garden is therefore not always easy.
French lilacs such as ‘Mme Lemoine’, ‘President Poincaré’, ‘Charles Joly’ and ‘Michael Buchner’ are among the most fragrant of all the double-bloomed lilac varieties. For all these varieties the most famous lilac bred of all times, ‘Lemoine’, received the 'Award of Garden Merit' of the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
Russian lilacs from the famous breeder Koilesnikov, such as Schöne von Moskau or Nadezhda (translates as Hope), stand out above all with their large, densely filled lilac panicles and the unique colouring of the flowers.
Interesting facts about these lilac varieties
The common lilac belongs to the olive tree family and prefers to grow in a sunny to a semi-shady garden spot. The vast majority of these lilacs can reach a height of four to six metres and can also be grown as a lilac standard. All of them are very robust and hardy garden shrubs; they are ideal as a flowering hedge, solitary flowering shrub or as a soil stabiliser on slopes. Originally, the lilac comes from the Balkan region. It reached Central Europe via Turkey in the 16th century. In the vernacular, the genus Syringa is therefore also known as Turkish elder - and conversely, in many regions elder is also known as lilac.
This easy-care, large shrub used to belong to every farmhouse, just like the elderberry. Intensive breeding has resulted in a wide variety of varieties. This intensive breeding activity began in France and England and was continued at the end of the 19th century in Holland, the United States and above all in Russia. Many, very beautiful and unique lilac hybrids, such as the two-coloured ‘Sensation’, the sky blue, heavenly-scented ‘Boule Azurée’ or the yellow ‘Primrose’ were created in this way.
Planting
Even though we cannot say exactly which type of lilac will be the most beautiful and best for you (you have to decide for yourself), we can recommend one thing with full conviction: buy only true-to-root varieties of the common lilac. True-to-root means that the root and the above-ground shoot form a unit, i.e. the plant has not been grafted. On the one hand, root-genuine varieties of lilac form fewer runners, on the other hand, they are really true to type. For this reason, the Lubera® Garden Shop only offers lilacs that are true to their roots.