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Old-fashioned lilacs were abundant in the gardens of your grandparents and great-grandparents. And although horticulturists have come up with plenty of new varieties, the old-fashioned lilacs remain popular today. Lavalette Nursery has obtained a stock of two of the favorite varieties of this fragrant shrub.
Katherine Havemeyer lilac tolerates light shade, but blooms best in full sun. It grows 10 to 12 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide. This pretty, spreading lilac makes an excellent backdrop for a shrub border. Mulch it each year in early spring and avoid pruning young plants except to remove unproductive or diseased wood. This species is the common lilac, also referred to as French lilac that most of us are familiar with. It produces extremely fragrant flowers on 4-to-8-inch dense panicles, appearing in late spring to early summer. The following year’s flower buds are produced by mid-summer, so if pruning is necessary, do so before July.
This variety blooms mid-season with abundant blossoms. It grows rapidly and reaches a mature height of 8 to 12 feet, creating a magnificent floral display in your landscape. Delightfully fragrant, the large panicles are abundant and exceptionally full, making this a superb garden plant, as well as a perfect choice for cut flowers. It has a long blooming period. This lilac, like all others, likes full sun to partial shade with good air movement to keep mildew at bay. Plant it on a slight mound to insure good drainage.
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Featured Plant: 
-- Katherine Havemeyer is an early blooming French hybrid that produces abundant clusters of double, lavender-pink, fragrant flowers and dark green, disease-resistant foliage. This lilac is a leggy, suckering, deciduous shrub. It is strong, long-lived and easily grown in a neutral soil.
-- Krasavitsa Moskvy (which means “beauty of Moscow”) is weather resistant, extremely hardy and has a long blooming period. The unusually large double flowers of this hybrid lilac resemble pink pearls in bud, but open to pure white, creating a beautiful bicolor effect. 