Syringa vulgaris Jeanne dArc - Common Lilac

The Common Lilac 'Jeanne d'Arc' is an old variety cherished for its huge double flowers of pure white, very fragrant! It is a large bush or a small tree of medium size, with cordiform deciduous leaves and an erect habit, quite irregular. From April to May, this lilac carries large pyramidal panicles of fine and bright flowers that work wonders in a bouquet, filling living rooms with their floral scent. Plant in neutral, well-drained soil and in the sun for even more generous flowering! It nevertheless tolerates a bit of limestone or a bit of acidity and appreciates humus-rich soils. The lilac is ideally used to complete the free hedges with its pretty silhouette and spectacular flowering, planted in groups in the background of flowering beds or in isolation in smaller gardens.

The Syringa vulgaris 'Jeanne d'Arc' is a very hardy bush of the oleaceae family, like all horticultural hybrid lilacs obtained at the end of the 19th century. We often forget that its ancestor the common lilac, also known as European Lilac, is native to the Southeast of Europe and the west of Asia, more precisely from the Balkan peninsula, and that it arrived in Western Europe at the end of the renaissance. In nature, this indomitable plant with very fragrant blue-violet-purple flowers colonises the rocky hills and braves cold winters.

The variety 'Jeanne d'Arc' is a lilac that over the years forms a small tree with a erect and irregular habit, of an average height of 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and a spread of 2 m. It spontaneously develops into a bush composed of several stems, like the mock orange with which it should not be confused. Its stump emits shoots that sometimes need to be pulled out to maintain its beautiful appearance as a small tree. Its leaves, triangular and cordiform, 8 to 12 cm (3.1 to 4.7 in) long and 3 to 8 cm (1.2 to 3.1 in) wide, appear in the spring, in a tender green hue, with a satin finish. Flowering takes place from April to May, earlier or later depending on the climate. At the end of one-year-old branches appear, in pairs, pyramidal-shaped compound clusters, called thyrsus, 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) long. The pure white flower buds blossom into large double flowers, quite fine and very noticeable. The fragrance of the flowers is powerful in this variety, making the flowering even more enjoyable as a cut flower.

The strength emanating from the mature silhouette of a lilac, anchored on multiple trunks, as well as the generosity of the flowering sometimes deserve a prime spot, in isolation, in a small garden. Surrounded by a bed of ground cover roses and nepetas, in a small space dedicated to it, this modest subject will become a grandiose bush, covered in glory in the heart of spring. Easy to grow in a cool climate and well watered, even in mountainous areas, the Common Lilac ‘Jeanne d'Arx’ thrives in ordinary, moist, rather limestone, but free-draining soils. Use it, mixed with other pink, mauve or red varieties, abundantly, in large flowering hedges, in the company of simple flowered roses, mock oranges, amelanchiers, Crataegus Paul's Scarlet, Cotinus or large buddleias (B. alternifolia). A hedge of lilacs, flowering Prunus, Almond trees from China, flowering cherries and ornamental apple trees, planted above a large sunken alley, is a real enchantment in spring.