Another gorgeous flashback from commentor Delphinium:
The Rochester Lilac Festival, held in Highland Park, has North America’s largest collection of lilacs, featuring more than 1800 bushes and over 500 different varieties. The festival goes for 10 days in mid-May with slight date changes from year to year based on weather and predicted peak bloom time of the lilacs. Along with the lilacs, there are plenty of concerts, food and drink vendors, a juried art show, and a 5k run. As I hadn’t been to the festival in many years, decided to make a quick stop on my way to visit family in the area.
One of the more interesting lilacs was this variegated variety, ‘Dappled Dawn’:
There were many other lovely lilacs as well:
Besides lilacs, the park features rhododendrons, azaleas, Japanese maples, and magnolias. These yellow-flowered magnolias, ‘Golden Gift’ and ‘Elizabeth’, caught my eye and reminded me of lotus flowers.
Magnolia-Golden Gift
Magnolia-Elizabeth
There were also many of the more common pink magnolias — I believe this variety is ‘Betty’.
Magnolia-Betty
And since we have been talking about rabbits in some of the previous garden chats, thought I would include this cutie from my yard. So far, it has been content with only eating the weeds.
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If I kept a bucket list, the Rochester Lilac Festival would definitely be on it!What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Reader Interactions
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NeenerNeener
I’ve lived in the Rochester area for over 30 years and have never been to the lilac festival, to my regret, because I can’t handle the crowds and the offsite parking. I did buy a bunch of bushes from a place called “Doc Lilac”, though, to scratch my lilac itch.
Lapassionara
These are lovely. Thanks for sharing.
and I wish my rabbit ate weeds. Alas, it only goes for my flowers.
sab
@Lapassionara: Somebody told me to encourage clover weeds at the border of my flower bed, and that does seem to work. Our rabbits eat the clover and don’t get into the flowers.
raven
At first I thought this was about Lilacia Park in Lombard, il!
delphinium
Good morning-hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing weekend so far!
@NeenerNeener: I don’t like crowds either, so stopped by early in the morning a couple of days before the official start of the festival. Far fewer people there at that time : ).
delphinium
@raven: That park looks lovely! Will have to check it out if I am ever in IL.
Ten Bears
Start sneezing just looking at the pictures …
Lapassionara
@sab: I wish I had more clover. I have lots and lots and lots of wild violets and nutsedge.
my current project is getting control of the vinca minor in the bed behind my house.
JeanneT
That park looks like an amazing place to visit in the spring. It would be fun to try to identify the fragrance differences among the lilacs. I only have room for ONE lilac bush in my yard, and I’ve never known which varieties that have the best perfume.
OzarkHillbilly
My lilac was a bust this year, a late freeze took out about 2/3 of the blossoms.
My cukes are done now, so are my melons, which were a huge disappointment this year: Small and not very sweet at all. I’ll blame it on the mid summer drought and extreme temps we got. I watered plenty but I guess it was just enough to keep the plants green. Sweet pepper plants have all succumbed to tobacco mosaic virus, just reinforces why I decided to grow them from seed. My eggplants have produced zip this year due to a late start. Still picking plenty of beans and maters, so at least that is good.
satby
@delphinium: Very beautiful, I love lilacs. Alas, since the late freeze of 2020 (I think) mine have never recovered enough to rebloom, though several started over growing back from the roots.
Looking at a brilliant glowing orange and pink daybreak now, and waiting for the latest porch cat to finish eating before I get out to water the plants early. We’re going into another heatwave, fortunately this one is supposed to last only until Wednesday. I’ll be capturing porch cat tonight or tomorrow so he can accompany the rescue up in isolation to their spay (her) and neuter (him) appointments. She’s in heat, so I need to dig out one of the cat cages 🙄
satby
I only did tomatoes this year, and it’s been mediocre at best, for the same reason. Even the shrubs are looking stressed when it gets hot now, and I try to give everything a deep soak. After the tomatoes finally set some fruit over the last cooler spells I may get some more ripened before a frost, but it’ll be a race.
mrmoshpotato
@satby:
Know anyone named Roger you can blame?
Why does it feel like this should be a rock band’s name?
satby
I see that Mousebumples offered some bluesky invite codes overnight, I have two as well. Email me for them: skinluvvers (at) gmail dot com.
delphinium
@satby: It has been in the mid-70s here for several weeks but is supposed to get around 90 here over the next few days. Need to cut the grass in a bit before it gets too hot.
Good luck with the kitties!
Mousebumples
@satby: Yup, I did. My kids are awake (and with how hot it is today, we’ll probably be inside), but I’ll try to keep an eye on posts/comments. 😊
Jeffg166
Today a heatwave rolls in. All summer Philadelphia has escaped major heat. Our luck runs out this week. Needless to say it is the first week of public school.
I put the window unit back in to the bedroom window the other day. I used it three times during this summer. It might be in most of the week this week.
Out yesterday to pull morning glories off other plants. Dropped them on the lawn. Will go out now to rake them up and put into the compost pile.
MagdaInBlack
@raven: Was my first thought. Thank you for that link.
kalakal
How lovely. Thanks for the photographs
Mousebumples
Re Bluesky codes –
@Tenar Arha & @Kristine: If you’re still watching the thread, I’m at whiteowl4 AT Gmail.
I can try to reach out through WaterGirl too. 😊
Btom89 had also expressed interest, but unless Tenar Arha or Kristine no longer needs one, my supply is out for now.
sab
@Lapassionara: Yikes with controlling vinca minor. My project also.
Gvg
I would like to sniff lilacs some day. They do not grow in Florida and I have never been up north when they were in bloom. They look so pretty. There are low chill ones but people who tried them here said they got mildew. California bred, which often does not like Florida humidity.
it has been hot so I stayed inside a lot this summer, unusual for me. This week the clouds after the hurricane cooled it off and I have been weeding. It’s terrible. I need to finish and go help my mother with hers. Her health is getting worse and her garden is more behind than we are used to. Going to have to simplify for both of us to manage I think. I moved near her to help knowing age was going to happen to both of us.
satby
Just came in from giving everything a decent soak. I need to water the potted and grow bag stuff daily, when it gets really hot sometimes twice (can’t overwater grow bags unless you put them into another pot or tray and I don’t). We had a couple of nights when it got down to 49°, and the tropical canna lillies are not happy.
satby
@Gvg: it has been hot so I stayed inside a lot this summer, unusual for me.
Same here, there was some wonderful summer weather but it always coincided with really bad air quality days from the Canadian wildfire smoke. A few people commented that it almost felt like the “stay home” covid times. Normally even on hot days I could sit on my porch in the evenings, sometimes with a fan. Not this year. 😕
delphinium
@Lapassionara: I have English ivy that spread over from my neighbor’s yard, so sympathize about getting rid of unwanted items. While the ivy looks nice, those runners go everywhere and is hard to completely eradicate from areas it shouldn’t be.
Anne Laurie
Here in New England, our lilacs get powdery mildew many summers as well — it’s not fatal for them, just unsightly.
None of the recommended home remedies (baking soda, mouthwash, dish soap) ever worked for me… possibly because I was just too lazy to keep respraying, since the worst mildew years are the ones when it rains every third day for a month.
For a few blissful years, Serenade kept my lilacs (and tomatoes!) blight-free. But for some reason, the fungicide seems to have been taken off the market, and I can’t find a working replacement!
delphinium
@Gvg: They do have a lovely fragrance-hope you get a chance to smell them some day. Mildew is a problem here too for lilacs-we typically get a lot of rain, especially in the spring, and the summers can get quite humid.
satby
@Anne Laurie: I read that a lot of the target organisms became resistant. I always had luck with it and still have some concentrate, but I went looking and found this article on potential replacements.I have used the Bonide one, with ok results. I also am lackadaisical about consistent application, but it seemed to work reasonably well in spite of that.
WaterGirl
@Anne Laurie: For powdery mildew, mix 1 part milk and 7 parts water. Spray liberally on the leaves. Apply again after rain.
It always works for me!
Denali5
@Delphinium,
Another reason to love living in Rochester! Highland Park is beautiful any time of the year! Rochester through the generosity of George Eastman has many parks to explore, as well as a lakeshore, a riverfront, and waterways if you love water views. After living here over fifty years, I love it, although it is helpful to take a break during the winter months.
Madeleine
I grew up outside of Rochester. One year my parents planned a visit to the Highland lilacs for my mid-May birthday. But it rained and the visit was off. I was bereft. Until the rain moved off and we went after all. The lilacs, vivid against the rain-darkened leaves, and the scent all around were unforgettable. When I can, I always find lilacs on my birthday. They ‘re a gift.
Miss Bianca
I had no idea there were that many lilac varieties! I’m afraid my untrained eye only sees “deep purple, lavender, white”. But I do love lilacs so…one of my earliest memories of the house where I grew up was our lilac and forsythia bushes. And our peonies, of course.
Spartan girl
Do lilacs ever get “too old”? My daughter has a couple that look pretty gnarly
delphinium
@Denali5:
Yes, this area of NY is great! I’m a bit outside of Rochester, near some of the finger lakes.
wenchacha
@delphinium: Yes. The festival used to be more about the lilacs and other flowers. When some company started hawking hot tubs at the park, it became less fun.
Yarrow
Lol. Nothing but watching trees die for lack of water.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
These are lovely pictures – I love lilacs. I have one tree that blooms every year (Bay area CA) and the smell is fabulous. I wish there were lilacs that bloomed all year instead of just once.
MazeDancer
Lilac is so glorious.
Seems like it ought to last much longer since it takes a whole bush or tree to make it happen.
Nancy
Delphinium,
I plan to use your beautiful photos to lure some relatives to come and visit the lilacs before or after the festival proper. I suggest that plan and the early morning visit for the many who don’t care for crowds.
Rochester and surrounding areas offer parks, art galleries, the Strong Museum of Play, and Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. It has mostly been a nice place to live for me.Not for everyone.
Redlining and concentrated poverty in the city surrounded by well-to-do and extremely wealthy suburbs can’t be ignored when I think about Rochester.
delphinium
@Nancy: Lure away : )! And yes, would suggest either going a few days before the festival starts as most things will be in bloom anyway or if you go during the festival, go early morning on a weekday.
Yeah, a lot of privileged aren’t going to give up even a small bit of that to help make things more equitable for others. Obviously not just a Rochester problem-in many cities, the poorer/disadvantaged folks are concentrated in the industrial and far less desirable neighborhoods.
Nancy
@delphinium:
Thanks. I’m reading a book about history of education in Rochester.
Leaves me feeling raw but the beauty is real.