Lilacs are the flower of my childhood. Like many suburban gardens, ours had a lilac tree, nondescript and generally ignored for most of the year until it broke into flower in late spring when its scent propelled it into the limelight.
It seems I’m not alone in remembering them fondly. In her new book on lilacs, Naomi Slade talks of them filling “the air with nostalgia”.
And she notes: “. . . one whiff of the bloom can transport a person back in time.”
(I was given a book in return for a fair review.)
It’s the scent that lingers in the memory rather than the blooms, which, looking at Georgianna Lane’s dreamy photographs, seems rather a shame. True the colour palette is limited to mainly white, purple and the obvious lilac, but flowers can be single or double with the petals that vary from rounded or cupped to reflexed or divided.
As with her other books on particular plants (hydrangeas, dahlias, lilies), Naomi covers every aspect from the anatomy of lilacs, to how to combine them with other things in a garden, and how to use them as cut flowers.
We learn that the name lilac comes from the Persian word for bluish, that despite its name, Syringa x chinensis is not from China, and that there is a colour classification scale for lilacs – the Wister Code. I also hadn’t known that lilac flowers are edible.
The bulk of the book is devoted to portraits of individual varieties, divided into sections entitled ‘Fantastic Frills’, ‘Cool Perfection’, ‘Delicate Delights’ and ‘Sumptuous Sophistication’.
‘Lilac Sunday’ is unusual in that it has small clusters of flowers along its stem rather than just the one panicle. The flowers of ‘Bicolor’ resemble “a fluffy lavender cloud”, while ‘Miss Canada’ is “hot pink and super-sassy”. Meanwhile, ‘Primrose’ bucks the colour trend with flowers that start as buds of clotted cream becoming buttercream-white and finally primrose yellow.
As ever, the individual entries are worth reading for the descriptions alone: some double lilacs we’re told look like “portly officials in ill-fitting array on a feast day parade”.
Having fallen out of favour in the late 20th century, the lilac is once again in fashion, “loved for its vintage looks and perfume”.
With detailed notes on which varieties suit different climates, their eventual size and even if they can be grown in a pot, Lilacs is the perfect starting point for anyone wanting to add one to their garden.
Lilacs by Naomi Slade, photography by Georgianna Lane is published by Pavilion with a RRP of £25. You can buy a signed copy directly from the author here. It is also available for £18.29 here. (If you buy through this link I get a small commission. The price you pay is unaffected.)
You can read more of my gardening and garden-related book reviews here.
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