This is probably one of my favorite lilacs (maybe tied with Syringa wolfii). The flowers, like the fragrance, are so delicate and refined. The scent can carry thirty feet, but it’s never sickly or overpowering. It’s just… pleasant.

The little leaves with purplish margins are cute as a button, as are the flowers. Everything about this plant is adorable, including its size. Most lilacs become gangly and coarse with age, but this little plant just tops itself off at four feet or so.

The plant used to be much larger, but it had a lot of dieback one year (probably due to blight). I bought another cheap plant at a big box store in 2017 to replace the damaged half, and now it’s filling in nicely in full shade at the bottom of the driveway. I don’t remember when I first planted it, but it was probably around 2000 and was a cheap big box selection.

I bought this last spring from Edelweiss Perennials and planted it at the base of a dark, weathered whiskey barrel surrounded by Brunnera macrophylla. I’d admired it from afar for years, but somehow never managed to order one for myself until then.

It’s supposed to reach 24-30″ (60-75cm), but mine must not be old enough yet — it’s maybe 12″ (30cm) tall.

I hope it gets bigger, because if it doesn’t I’ll have to move it. It’s supposed to arch up and over the plants around it, not be smothered underneath!

Anyhow, I really like the brightness of the foliage. As you can see, the flowers aren’t even that noticeable with all of that variegation, and the pattern really lights up a dark corner.

This is one that I’ll have to get more of.