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Sniff the Syringa!

Rochester, New York, celebrates its 2002 Lilac Festival at Highland Park from May 10th through 19th.

Each May, the Lilac Festival signals spring as Highland Park's 1,200 lilac bushes display a floral rainbow of more than 500 varieties, from deepest purple to purest white, from lightly scented to irresistibly aromatic. They cover twenty-two of Highland Park's 155 acres.

Lilacs are members of the Olive family. There are twenty-three species of lilac under the genus Syringa, all native to Eurasia. Lilacs occur in South Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Japan.

If you cannot get to Rochester, then plant your own lilac! When purchasing a shrub, select a healthy specimen with good firm stems. Plant your lilac in full sunlight with good drainage and adequate soil aeration.

Pictured: Elizabeth Nourse, 1859 USA–1938 France, Lilacs, 1891, opaque watercolor and watercolor on fiberboard, 38 1/4 x 29 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney.