Syringa meyeri Flowerfesta Purple - Lilac

The Syringa Flowerfesta 'Purple' is the latest addition to the excellent series of Flowerfesta lilacs which brings together very hardy bushes, small in size, highly floriferous, perpetual and fragrant. These qualities naturally destine it for the ornamentation of balconies, terraces and small gardens. Its clusters of single flowers, initially dark purple when they are buds, bloom in a lighter purple. They are larger than those of most varieties derived from the Syringa meyeri and are abundantly produced in the spring, sometimes more sporadically during the summer and very often again in September-October. Low maintenance, water-efficient, it will also look good in a small flowered hedge, planted in a group or even on its own near the house.

The lilac Flowerfesta 'Purple' ('Anny200809')  is a recent horticultural achievement, belonging to a series of lilacs developed in recent years in the Netherlands. It is derived from the Syringa meyeri, a botanical species native to Northern China, although it has never been found in the wild. The bushes of the Flowerfesta series were selected for their colour, their floribundity, the size of their inflorescences and their strong perpetual nature. They come in white, pink and purple-red. All these plants belong to the Oleaceae family.

This lilac naturally forms a rounded, compact and ramified bush, as wide as it is high. When mature, it will not exceed 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in all directions. Its growth is quite slow, encouraged by a rich and fresh soil. This variety flowers from a young age, abundantly in April-May, a few days before the common lilacs, in the form of pleasantly fragrant pyramidal thyrsus, 10 to 14 cm (3.9 to 5.5 in) long, composed of small single mauve flowers born from darker floral buds. These inflorescences are grouped in bouquets at the end of the previous year's shoots, then again at the end of summer or at the beginning of autumn, at the end of the year's branches. This flowering attracts a good number of butterflies and pollinating insects. Its foliage, deciduous, is composed of small elliptical leaves 2 to 4 cm (0.8 to 1.6 in) long, of a medium green. 

Everyone has a good reason to love lilacs, as endearing as they are unpretentious. The 'Flowerfesta Purple' Lilac allows you to grow this bush in a small garden or on a terrace, wherever space is at a premium. Perfectly hardy, easy to grow in ordinary soil, even in cold or dry regions, low maintenance, it adapts to all garden styles and to all our climates. It is a major element for the design of a scent garden, its flowering accompanying that of laburnums, wisterias and pink or white brooms. It can also be planted in large borders, in groups, on its own or as a free hedge mixed with forsythias, quinces and Japanese kerria, Deutzias etc. Its deliciously fragrant clusters are appreciated in spring bouquets, in company of the first garden irises, early peonies, campanulate and ranunculus from the florists.