Lilacs for Warm Climates

‘Descanso Princess’. Photographs by Jack Nelson.
Any lilac is ‘easy’: they do not object to lime, in fact they like it; they need no pruning, though it is most advantageous to cut off the faded flowers, this is really important; they are perfectly hardy; and very long-lived unless they suddenly die back, which sometimes happens. Of course they repay rich cultivation; most plants do. And they like the sun.
Vita Sackville-West

In spring the fragrance emanating from the lilac grove at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles delights visitors to the garden, who expect to see lilacs blooming only in cold climates.

About twenty different lilacs, twelve of which are available commercially, bloom from late March to late April. Most of these are products of hybridization by Dr Walter Lammerts, renowned horticulturist who worked there when Manchester Buddy owned Rancho del Descanso.

In 1942, when Dr Lammerts was employed at the University of California, Los Angeles, he visited W.B. Clark, owner at that time of Clark Nurseries in San Jose. Dr Lammerts obtained seeds of some lilacs that Mr Clark had found would bloom wi...