CURATOR: Jeff Young
(International Lilac Society Board Member, VT Master Gardener)

CONTACT:
jeffeyoung@yahoo.com

PEAK BLOOM: Through the month of May.

2008 WORKSHOPS:

Lilac Pruning Work Day
Pruning Guide: Jeff Young, Lilac Curator. Learn to prune while helping to groom our award winning lilac collection.
June 28, Thursday
9 - 12 p.m and 1 - 4 p.m
Pruning Guide: Jeff Young, Lilac Curator. Jeff will start inside to demonstrate pruning techniques. Once proper methods have been shown and questions answered, instruction will continue outside in our award winning lilac collection.

LILAC PLANT SALES:
Bloom-Time Festival at the Hort Farm, May 17.



Lilac Collection Tours:
- May 17, Saturday (Bloom-Time Festival), 10 - 3 p.m.
- May 21, Wednesday, 6:30 - 8 p.m.
- May 29, Thursday, 6:30 - 8 p.m.

2008 Lilac Workshops: Download notes from Workshop HERE.

Below is a list of the Lilacs in the collection at the Hort Farm.
'Alphonse Lavallée'
'Ambroise Verschaffelt'
'Anna Amhoff'
‘Asessippi’  (S. x hyacinthiflora)
'Avalanche'
'Belle de Nancy'
'Blueâtre'
'Capitaine Baltet'
'Charles Joly'
S. x chinensis (S. protolaciniata × S. vulgaris)
'Christophe Colomb'
'Congo'
'Donald Wyman' (S. x prestoniae)
'Dr Masters'
'Edith Cavell'
'Evangeline' (S. x hyacinthiflora)
'Firmament'
'Fürst Liechtenstein
'Hermann Eilers'
'Hiawatha' (S. x prestoniae)
'Jean Macé'
'Krasavitsa Moskvy' (Beauty of Moscow)
'Lucie Baltet'
Lutèce
'Macrostachya'
'Maiden's Blush' (S.x hyacinthiflora)
'Marie Frances'
'Marie Legraye'
'Marleyensis'
S. meyeri
'Mirabeau'
'Miss Ellen Willmott'
'Miss Kim' (S. pubescens subsp. patula)
'Mme Antoine Buchner
Mme Lemoine'
'Monge'
'Montaigne'
'Palibin' (S. meyeri)
'Paul Thirion'
'Pocahontas' (S. x hyacinthiflora)
'Prairie Petite'
'President Lincoln'
'Princesse Marie'
S. rothomagensis (outdated name for S. x chinensis)
S. x skinneri
'Ludwig Spath'

"Lilac Time"
May 29, 1929 article originally printed in the Rutland Herald; reprinted here, with permission by the Times Argus.

Now is the brief season of the lilac bush, modest and enduring symbol of the depth and permanence of New England traditions. It has given a name to color, perfume, poems, songs, story.

Translated into many languages, its name is upon the lips of millions in many lands. Yet it remains unspoiled by such widespread fame. It is still the sturdy, wholesome dooryard emblem of the New England home.

With what eager anticipation has it been planted at the threshold of new, bravely begun homes.

With what poignant grief has it been left behind for long bitter migrations from whose hardship and loneliness homesick thoughts have turned in anguished longing.

To what strange and distant homes have its roots been transplanted, there to grow blossoms and, in turn, be abandoned again.

On this very day in mountain pastures and along deserted roads, over the graves of dead homes bloom the lilac bushes planted by the founders of those pioneer households. Many of those graves would be otherwise indistinguishable, their timbers long since buried, their cellar holes filled in and grassed over.

Were it not for the steadfast lilac bush, there would be nothing to mark that here once dwelt human souls who shared happiness, sorrow, hope and despair.

Who lived there, whither they went or what their adventures nobody knows. No descendants make annual pilgrimages to remember and decorate these forgotten graves of the homes of ancestors. But each year at this season, the lonely, faithful lilac bush blooms again and lavishes its sweetness in memory of the hands that planted it.



Curator Jeff Young and Intern Laura Koloski at the 2008 Bloom-Time Festival. Photo: Jen Mills