Looking for Old Fashion Deep Purple lilac

10 years ago

My wife want a old fashion deep purple lilac bush and I have no ideal where one can find or order one. If you know were one can get one I would be very thankful.

Comments (5)

laceyvail 6A, WV
10 years ago
The huge suckering Syringa vulgaris that you're looking for is called Andenken an Ludwig Spaeth-- or just Ludwig Spaeth.

If you see one around that you like, ask the owners if you can dig a sucker.
Embothrium
10 years ago
As long as it's not grafted - otherwise the sucker might not be the named variety with the dark flowers.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
old fashioned would imply.. its been around a hundred years or so ... and i doubt they would be grafted ...

i have at least a dozen lilacs .. ALL WERE GOTTEN BY KNOCKING ON A DOOR AND ASKING IF I COULD DIG A SUCKER WHILE IN BLOOM...

that is really the only time you can get EXACTLY what you want ...

and no one has ever turned me down ...

i then dig a 6 to 12 inch sucker ... with some little bit of root ... stick it in a one gallon pot with some old wet media .. just a few inches.. and the pot holds up the top part ...... and leave it on the north side of the house [bright but no sun] ... to grow roots.. until i can plant it in fall ...

or in the case of the one in front of my house right now.. its been sitting there in about 3 inches of media for ... well.. it will be 3 years this spring at bloom time... lol .... i have moved it once in a while to insure it didnt root out the bottom ...

i swear to God.. i will plant it when the ground thaws.. now that i have mocked myself piteously ... lol..

BTW... i rarely if ever remembered to water it ... you can barely kill these things ... as long as it has some root on it ...

ken
Steve Massachusetts
10 years ago
Ken,

In addition to Ludwick Spaeth. I would recommend S. vulgaris "Sarah Sands" or a more recent hybrid S. vulgaris Yankee Doodle. One that is dark purple with double flowers is S. vulgaris Charles Joly.

You might try Fox Hill Lilac Nursery in Maine for a good selection. I use Syringa Plus in West Newbury, MA. But that's because they're close. Both nurseries do mail order in this here Internet.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Fox Hill Lilac Nursery
Embothrium
10 years ago
'Andenken an Ludwig Spath' dates from 1883. So that makes it 131 years old.

"Perhaps the most popular lilac, one of the most consistent and reliable"

-- The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (2002, Hillier Nurseries)

Syringa vulgaris cultivars have been much grafted in the past. Specimens consisting of a named scion surrounded by suckers coming from a less impressively flowered root-stock is not rare in plantings of some age.