Terry L. Ettinger Horticulture Consulting Services
Meeting The Needs Of Today With A Vision For The Future
Special Topics
Lilacs for Central New York Landscapes
Early June-Blooming Lilacs
To escape damage from late season frosts in Canada, these lilacs were bred for their lateness of bloom.
As a result, they extend the bloom season for shrub-like lilacs into the second week of June - at least!
As a group, unfortunately, they tend not to have the lush fragrance of the early-blooming S. x hyacinthiflora, common and French hybrid lilacs.
This group of lilacs also tend to grow larger (up to fifteen feet tall and ten to twelve feet wide) than the earlier-blooming types and don’t readily send up suckers that can be used to rejuvenate overgrown plants. Therefore, they're not good choices for small spaces unless trained as small, multiple-stemmed trees.
- `Agnes Smith'
- Almost white
- Closest to a pure white flower in this group.
- `Donald Wyman'
- Almost red
- Close to a pure, light red flower with slightly spicy fragrance.
- `James Macfarlane’
- Pink
- Possibly the most readily available, late-blooming lilac - picture at top of page.
- `Miss Canada’
- Deep pink
- Deep pink flowers have a light fragrance.
- `Royalty’
- Deep purple
- Deepest purple of the late-blooming lilacs.
- `Redwine’
- Deep red
- Deep magenta-red.
- `Minuet’
- Reddish-pink
- Smaller (six to eight feet) than other late-blooming cultivars.