Lilacs for the Garden [Hardcover]

Jennifer Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2002

Jennifer Bennett has lived "lilac country" for more than 20 years, and is well placed to appreciate the lilac, which not only flourishes in cultivated gardens but roams wild across the countryside. Tracing the journey of a plant that will "grow well everywhere, in every soil," from its origins in Asia through Europe and the United Kingdom to North America some 250 years ago, Bennett brings this most familiar and glorious of flowers to vibrant life.

The lilac's bloom is a sign of spring everywhere, but a lesser-known fact is that its emerging flowers are also used as indicators by farmers planning pest control and crop plantings and by scientists engaged in charting global warming. Filled with uncommon information about this common plant, Bennett's book features chapters on its history; planning, planting and pruning; the lilac's place in the landscape, whether alone, in groupings or with perennials; a species list of usual and unusual plants, with names that range from 'Charles Lindbergh' and 'Martha Stewart' to 'Charm' and 'Glory'; exotic lilacs for the adventurous connoisseur; and lilac aid, which addresses one of gardening's most vexing questions: "Why won't it bloom?"

Lilacs for the Garden is a compendium of essential information for all who cherish this most resonant of garden companions. Whether you seek detail on plant requirements, mulching, grafting, fertilizing, multiplication, bloom time, fragrance, abiotic and biotic stresses, renovating neglected lilacs or a list of recommended species and where to find them, Bennett's latest book is an essential resource.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bennett takes readers on a trip down memory lane to celebrate the lilac, a shrub many first encountered on a fragrant spring day at Grandmother's house. Waxing both nostalgic and rhapsodic, Bennett reintroduces this much-loved but underutilized shrub to a new generation of gardeners, extolling its virtues as a landscape plant: hardiness, drought-tolerance, and soil adaptability, not to mention its intoxicating fragrance and ethereal flowers. Where once lilacs were thought to thrive only in colder climes, Bennett highlights newer cultivars that tolerate hotter and dryer conditions. Stunning color photographs make you fall in love with them all over again. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

An excellent book for the beginner or the veteran gardener. (Gerald Filipski The Edmonton Journal 20071121)

Total details on buying, planting, pruning, diseases and propagating from cuttings; for mail-order sources and public gardens with fine displays. (Kerry Moore Vancouver Province 20020604)

Perhaps every gardener's library should include a book dedicated to this fragrant shrub. (Susan Mulvihill Spokane Spokesman 20030620)

Makes caring for these hearty plants sound doable, even for readers with only a green-ish thumb. (HGTV.ocm 20030519)

A lucid, beautifully illustrated (with over 90 stunning color photographs) tribute to this much-loved shrub... Well researched and written. (Rachael Green American Reference Books Annual, Volume 35 2004)

In simple plain language, you will learn how (and where and when) to plant lilacs, care for lilacs. (Dan Hays Salem Statesman Journal 20020804)

Recommended ... The information is all there. (Peter W. Bristol Chicago Botanical Garden 20030511)

Combines practical advice, personal observations, literary quotes and full-color photographs in an irresistible mix. (Jo Clavert Canadian Living 20030401)

Well-researched and -written, and lavishly illustrated, Bennett's book is an invaluable resource for the lilac lover. (Gardening Life 20020601)

Practical, thorough and informative ... a must-have for anyone interested in growing this gloriously hardy, sweet-smelling shrub. (Kitchener-Waterloo Record 20020504)

Full of gorgeous pictures, lilac facts ... and advice for selecting, planting, pruning and tending lilacs. (Beth Botts Chicago Tribune 20020502)

Beautifully illustrated ... likely to become a classic -- one of those you just can't bear to do without. (Jessie Deslauriers Kingston This Week 20020503)

After flipping through page after page of gorgeous photographs, I'm hooked. (David Hobson Kitchener-Waterloo Record 20020511)

An excellent guide. (Steve Whysall Southam Newspapers 20020518)

Detailed portraits... prompted me to make room for four more of these beauties in my already crowded garden. (Beckie Fox Canadian Gardening 20080430)

Covers everything... easy to read and understand -- even as she delves into hybrids and cultivars. (Patty Jesome Edmonton Sun )

A great resource book. (Rhea Hamilton-Seeger The Rural Voice (Blyth ON) )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (May 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552975800
• ISBN-13: 978-1552975800
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,547,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lilacs for the Garden, May 6, 2003

By 

Valerie Adolph "Coast Journal" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lilacs for the Garden (Hardcover)

Lilacs for the Garden Jennifer Bennett

John C. Wister observed "Even with the casual attention we have given it, the lilac is the oldest and best loved American shrub."

Now you might argue that the lilac is not the oldest shrub in North America, but for many people it seems like the oldest inhabitant of the gardens they knew as children. The gardens we grew up in - our parents, grand parents and great grandparents gardens all had lilacs. My grandmother had a white lilac growing in a square foot of compacted dirt - I refuse to call it soil - in an inner city neighbourhood that was as polluted as it could be. Even as a child I admired its survival skills. Yet in these days when we have a reasonable plot of ground and amended soil, how often do we choose to plant lilacs?

Jennifer Bennet, author of several gardening books, has done a thorough job of researching the lilac, the species officially known as Syringa. Most lilacs have come to us from the mountainous regions of Asia, although two species came from Eastern Europe to France. The French, enamoured by its perfume, transformed Syringa vulgaris into a wide variety of hybrids with larger clusters of flowers, a range of colours - from white through violet and magenta to purple.

Lilacs came to North America with settlers during the 17th century. Some immigrants over 250 years old still grow on Mackinac Island, Michigan where there is a lilac festival every year. Another lilac festival is held annually in Rochester New York. And if you are looking for a major collection of lilacs, check out the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts, which has over 500 lilacs.

The author, besides giving her readers a useful and detailed description of different varieties of lilac, also explains plant requirements, mulching, grafting fertilizing, stresses affecting lilacs and the best way to work with lilacs that have suffered from neglect. Her last chapter is a particularly useful "Lilac Aid: Why won't it bloom?"

This is a well illustrated book, with most of the colour photographs taken by the author herself. There is a valuable resource list at the end, with mail order sources for the US and Canada, nurseries, public lilac collections and web sites with lilac information.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Lilac Novice, June 26, 2007

By 

Jeffrey E. Young "Lilac Dr" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lilacs for the Garden (Hardcover)

I do many lilac seminars each year and I refer all my students to Bennett's book first. It is the only recent book in print that does justice to understanding lilacs. If you are a gardener that wants a solid reference book to add a lilac or two to your garden this is the book to have. John Fiala's book, Genus Syringa, is much too detailed for the casual gardener and is geared to the lilac collector.

Jeff Young, Lilac Curator, Univ of VT Horticulture Farm, Vermont Master Gardener

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful photos, lots of info, December 19, 2009

By 

Mary A. Swaty (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lilacs for the Garden (Paperback)

I too have fond memories of beautiful lilacs in a yard known in childhood. I also had a lilac years ago here in Phoenix in the heart of the low desert. It would have done well here if I had been a better caretaker. I have to fault this book for not meeting my own particular needs. The author is a Canadian and seems very good on northern lilacs, but I need to know about those that can thrive on mild winters and extreme summer heat and dryness. Ms. Bennett does touch on the topic of southern lilacs, but there does not seem to be an easy way to sort out what varieties would work here. (I have bought the book.)