Syringa vulgaris Dentelle dAnjou - Common Lilac

The Common Lilac 'Dentelle d'Anjou' is a recent French variety, derived from Syringa vulgaris, distributed by the Minier nurseries in Anjou since 2007. This deciduous bush with a dense and compact habit and healthy foliage is a beautiful improvement of 'Madame Lemoine', from which it inherited the beautiful white inflorescences loaded with double and well scented florets. It blooms in early spring, in April-May depending on the climate. Superb in a large flowering hedge, its flowers are naturally perfect for bouquets.

Fallen into disuse in the 1960s-1970s after the discovery of American or Asian lilacs, the European lilac and its hybrids are making a strong comeback in our gardens, like old roses which were disliked for their single flowering, and were therefore neglected in favour of modern hybrids.

Syringa vulgaris 'Dentelle d'Anjou', like all lilacs, is a bush of the Oleaceae family. We often forget that the common lilac, also known as the European Lilac, is actually native to Southeast Europe and the west of Asia, more precisely the Balkan Peninsula, and that it only arrived in Western Europe at the end of the renaissance. In nature, this wild plant with very fragrant blue-violet-purple flowers colonises the rocky hills and braves cold winters.

The 'Dentelle d'Anjou' variety forms a large bush with medium growth, an erect and compact habit, less than 4m (13 ft 1 in) high (usually 3m (9 ft 10 in)) and with a spread of 2m (6 ft 7 in), on average. Its leaves, deciduous, triangular and heart-shaped, 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in) long and 3 to 8 cm (1.2 to 3.1 in) wide, appear in spring, in a medium green shade, with a satin finish. Flowering takes place in April or May, depending on the climate. At the ends of one-year-old branches appear long compound clusters, called thyrsus, sometimes reaching 20 cm (7.9 in) in length. Their overall pyramidal shape is quite compact. The cream-coloured flower buds open into double flowers, the corolla forming a long tube at the base. Their colour is pure white. They diffuse a pleasant, quite strong, very floral fragrance.

Easy to grow in any drained soil, under almost all our climates, the Common Lilac 'Dentelle d'Anjou' is an essential bush in a flower garden.  Use it, mixed with other mauve, pink or red varieties, abundantly, in large flowering hedges, along with single-flowered roses, mock oranges, deutzias, serviceberries, Itea or large buddleias (B.macrostachya, B.officinalis, B. alternifolia). A hedge of lilacs, flowering prunus, Chinese Almond, Japanese quinces and ornamental apple trees, planted above a sunken path, is a real enchantment in spring. It can also be used alone, surrounded by a bed of ground cover roses, in a small space dedicated to it, to make this modest subject a grandiose bush, covered in glory in the heart of spring.