I think my most beloved blooming shrub must be fragrant Lilacs. As a child I loved burying my face in those panicles of blooms....well, to be honest, I still love doing that, LOL.

In the last few years I've started collecting a few Lilacs, and am looking forward to learning more about them. Polly is well read on the Genus, and I'm excited to pick her brain!

I can see swelling buds on all my early bloomers, ahhh, my nose will soon be in Heaven!

Has your lilac bloomed yet?

Mine is starting to bloom now. I have Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’. I also have Syringa pubescens subsp. patula ‘Miss Kim’ but she's a bit slower.

I'll post pics in a few days when it's opened more.

Yep, some are blooming now and a few are about finished. This one was just starting when I took this pic, but the blooms are starting to fade now. 'Miss Kim' is just now starting to open, and I can see buds on the Persian Lilac.

We have a little ways to go for Miss Kim but Palibin is just starting to bloom. It should be in full bloom by this weekend but it's already perfuming the yard.

Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’

Palibin has been perfuming the yard but is starting to wane.

Now, Miss Kim is starting to bloom. Not a lot of blooms since I pruned too late last year, but she is still perfuming our front yard.

Syringa pubescens subsp. patula ‘Miss Kim’

Do you find the fragrance kinda lemony? Its not like typical Lilacs, but its so nice, and after the others have finished which is another plus. My Miss Kim is covered in blooms, and is perfuming a big area. With that and all the Dianthus that just started blooming too, it's really nice to just walk into the front yard and take a deep sniff

Miss Kim and Palibin are great! Nice pics. I like the fragrance. It's almost spicey compared to the sweet of the vulgaris ones. And I love the persian lilac. I think that's the one the most perfume is made from. I'll have to dig out my Father Fialas Lilacs book. It's a fantastic book, if anyone is ever looking for a book on lilacs.

Here's Rochester.

Champlain

Martha Stewart

Margaret Fenicchia, an intro by Richard Fenicchia when he was the Superintendent at Highland Park in Rochester, and named for his wife.

Part of my early years were spent in Rochester, and my beloved Aunt Helen and I went very often to the park, and always to see the lilacs, so any of Mr. Fenicchias intros are special to me.

Kate Sessions. This is a hyacintiflora type.

President Hayes. Love the recurved petals.

Glorious, Polly! I love being able to compare them and see the subtle differences.

Beautiful lilacs! They are each different yet all so pretty. I especially like the soft pink color of Champlain.

Thanks Neal and Val. Each one of those is a good sniffer too.

Polly, do you remove suckers from your Lilacs? I recall reading somewhere about folks doing that, but haven't known the benefit. I have been removing the suckers from those in the garden beds, I like the look of a single trunk there and it makes weeding easier.

I do in the garden beds, but around the edge of the lawn, no. But I do have three lilacs planted together with vulgaris alba in the center and the alba is taking over, so I would say if you have one of the vigorous ones to take the suckers off. We had been just mowing them down, but got lax.

vulgaris alba, that's an old fashioned white Lilac? If so, I believe I have one that was given to me as a small offset. Its doing well, and already suckering, even while small. I do have it in a garden bed, so it may be one I'll need to keep a constant eye on.

Yes, it's just like the common purple one, and would take over your property if allowed.

I don't know if I ever told you about our old purple lilac. When we bought the place 24 years ago there had been a road up to an old house that had long since burnt down, around 1900. The basement of the house is still there, and the road had grown all up, so we had to put a new road in. We did that in December, and then built in the spring. But in the spring we saw the lilacs the road had gone through. What we assume was the homeowner had bought two lilacs, and planted one at the back door and one at the front. Around the late 1800s they used to peddle lilacs door to door.

Those lilacs are now around 100 feet X 40 feet. And our roadway goes through the lilacs, and when they bulldozed for the roadway they pushed lilacs all over.

Here's a pic of a fence we put in when we first moved here. The lilacs are taking over the fence.

If you notice the tree on the left, that's just this side of our roadway. The lilacs extend to the other side of the roadway.