Syringa vulgaris Princesse Sturdza - Common Lilac

The Common Lilac 'Princesse Sturdza' is a variety created by Minier in 1996 named after the creator of the magnificent Vasterival garden in Normandy. This variety is renowned for its large single flowers in April of lilac-pink colour, dark pink in bud. This lilac is a medium-sized shrub with a bushy, quite open habit. It can be used in association with other bushes in a free hedge or in a cluster as well as isolated in the middle of a short grass meadow or at the edge of a passage where one can enjoy the scent of its spring flowering. Vigorous and easy to cultivate in the sun, in all types of normal and well-drained soil.

The Syringa vulgaris 'Princesse Sturdza' is a very hardy bush from the Oleaceae family, like all horticultural hybrid lilacs obtained at the end of the 19th century. It is often forgotten that its ancestor the common lilac, also known as European Lilac, is native to Southeast Europe and western Asia, more precisely from the Balkan Peninsula, and that it arrived in Western Europe at the end of the Renaissance. In nature, this untamed plant with very fragrant blue-violet-purple flowers colonises the rocky hills and braves cold winters.
The variety 'Princesse Sturdza' is a lilac that over the years forms a small tree with a erect habit, a height of 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and a span of 2 m (6 ft 7 in), on average. It spontaneously develops into a bush composed of several stems, like the mock orange with which it must not be confused. Its stump emits shoots that sometimes need to be cut off to preserve its beautiful aspect of a small tree. Its leaves, triangular and heart-shaped, 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 medium green shade, with a satin finish. The flowering takes place in April, more or less early depending on the climate. At the end of one-year branches appear, in pairs, compound clusters, called thyrsus, 15 to 20 cm (5.9 to 7.9 in) long. The colour of the inflorescences evolves from dark pink floral buds to lighter lilac-pink single flowers, quite fragrant.

The strength that emanates from the classic silhouette of a lilac, anchored on multiple trunks, as well as the generosity of the flowering sometimes deserve a place of choice, 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 with glory in the heart of spring. Easy to grow in cool and relatively wet climates, the Common Lilac thrives in ordinary, fresh, rather calcareous but free-draining soils. Use it, mixed with other pink, mauve or red varieties, in abundance, in large flowering hedges, in the company of single flowered roses, mock oranges, amelanchiers, Crataegus Paul's Scarlet, Cotinus or large buddleias (B. alternifolia). A hedge of lilacs, flowering Prunus, Chinese Almond, flowering cherries and ornamental apples, planted above a large sunken alley, is a true enchantment in spring.