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Wild species of lilac

We are used to presenting lilacs as a large spreading bush that delights us in the spring with luxurious flowering and delicate aroma. But it turns out that lilacs are different: sometimes they grow in the form of trees up to 20 meters high, and sometimes they grow only up to a meter or one and a half. And the flowering time of lilacs varies greatly: there are species that bloom in June-July, and some sometimes bloom again in August-September.

Mythological roots

Lilac, like many other plants, is named after the mythical ancient Greek character - the nymph Syringa, who, fleeing from the loving god of forests and fields Pan, turned into a river reed. But it is not for nothing that they say that passion knows no barriers. Pan made of his beloved ... a smoking pipe, lighting which, he probably drew in his imagination a different ending of that blood-stirring chase, which ended so inopportunely.

In memory of the nymph, the shepherd's pipe, which Pan made from the reed, began to be called "syrinx", and with the light hand of Karl Linnaeus, the name of the nymph was immortalized in the name of everyone's beloved bush. In Latin, lilac is called "syringa". By the way, the great botanist himself, describing the genus of lilacs, had before his eyes a sample he received from Turkey under the name "Turkish viburnum". This is what the lilacs were called in Europe at that time. In the middle of the 16th century, it was brought to Vienna by the ambassador of the Austrian emperor at the court of the Turkish sultan. Most likely, the Turkish lilac that got to Europe by such a "diplomatic route" was common lilac, whose homeland is Asia Minor. In Europe, another type of lilac grows - Hungarian lilac... In the wild, it can be found in the mountains of Central and Southern Europe. This type of lilac has very large wrinkled leaves and by this sign it is easy to distinguish it from common lilac. In addition, it blooms two weeks later: in central Russia - at the end of May - the first half of June. True, in terms of the variety of colors, this lilac is very much inferior to garden lilac, and its flowers are smaller, but the aroma is no less strong. For this, subtle connoisseurs of garden aromas love her.

Far Eastern lilacs

In the Far East, two types of lilac grow, which bloom even later than Hungarian lilac. In cool weather, their bloom can drag on until early July. It - Wolf lilac with lilac-purple flowers, collected in paniculate apical inflorescences, often located in 3 at the ends of the shoots, and Amur lilac with creamy panicle inflorescences up to 25 cm long. Wolf lilac grows in the form of a tall bush (up to 6 meters high), and Amur lilac in natural conditions can look like a real tree up to 20 meters high. True, in our garden it does not exceed 5 m.

Growing in China looks very peculiar lilac drooping. It is a shrub up to 3 meters high with reddish-pink, almost white flowers, collected in inflorescences, the tips of which gracefully hang down. The drooping lilac also blooms later than the Hungarian lilac, for which it is very appreciated by gardeners who want to extend the flowering time of the lilac garden.

Of other Far Eastern lilacs, one cannot fail to mention velvety lilac - a graceful shrub up to 3 meters high, growing in the mountainous regions of Korea and North China. A characteristic feature of this type of lilac is a white velvety calyx of flowers that have a lilac-pink color, brightening by the end of flowering. Purple anthers give a special charm to the flowers, while the inflorescences themselves have a pyramidal shape and reach a height of 15 cm.The velvety lilac blooms 2 weeks later than the common lilac, at about the same time as another Far Eastern species - lilac Zvyagintsev. This lilac has pink-white, pyramidal or paniculate inflorescences up to 30 cm long, the height of the bush is up to 4 - 4.5 meters.

Dwarf lilac blooming twice a year

For a dwarf Meyer's lilac does not require a lot of space. It does not grow taller than one and a half meters. Due to its miniature size, Meyer's lilac can be grown in containers and used for winter forcing. It has a shallow root system, so it can be planted in areas with a similar groundwater level. And this lilac has one more surprising property: it blooms twice a year - in May-June and the second time - in August-September. True, the second flowering is less abundant than the first, but it falls at a time when there are already very few flowering shrubs in the garden. All the more surprising is the lilac flowering at this time.

Based on the materials of the "Green Calendar" program of the "Moscow Says" radio station and the book of T.N. Dyakova “Ornamental trees and shrubs. New in the design of your garden "M, 2001.

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