Nursery Crop Science
Scintillating Shrubs: Camellias, Lilacs and other Fletcher Finds
Dick Bir and Joe Conner
Thanks to sustained support from NCAN and occasional support from others, we
have been evaluating plant performance at MHCRS, Fletcher for decades. You have
probably heard Dick talk about our work with deciduous hollies, forsythia, hydrangeas,
monarda, phlox, roses, etc. somewhere over the past years. If you have not and
have internet access, please go to the following website http://fletcher.ces.state.nc.us/staff/rbir/.
Much of the information has been summarized there.
Our work has always been with replicated trials of plants on their own roots,
i.e., no grafts. With the luxury of time and space that does not exist at other
university facilities, our trials have been focused on plants growing in the
ground year-round for multiple years. They are subjected to the wet and dry
years as well as the warm and cold winters.
Camellia: Trials have included both allegedly hardy cultivars and breeder numbered
selections as well as many plants identified by an accession number from plant
collection expeditions. Numbered plants will not be discussed here since most
of them were either not hardy or are unlikely to ever make it into the nursery
trade.
Our evaluations were based both on floriferousness and winter injury. We had
a subjective scale for winter injury with 10 indicating dead plants and 0 being
no damage on any plant of that cultivar. The most common form of injury was
a marginal leaf burn or leaf scorch with occasional tip dieback. Our site is
tough . . . full sun for much of the day on an exposed hillside at 2200 ft.
elevation. One camellia fancier told us that ours was not a fair test for garden
camellias. Our response is that we want truly hardy camellias for the mountains
and for shipping to the more northern market. Our best plants should be considered
for a protected USDA Hardiness Zone 6 site or a more exposed Zone 7a. Temperatures
did not go below 0 F. during our trials. Following a low of 5 F. last winter,
the floral display for late winter and early spring 2003 flowering cultivars
was spectacular.
Based on these trials we do NOT recommend the following: ‘Anticipation,’
‘Daintiness’ and ‘Winter’s Fancy’ failed to survive.
‘Paulette Goddard,’ ‘Barbara Clark’ and ‘Debbie
Jury’ displayed significant damage. ‘Egao,’ ‘Pink Fragrance,’
‘Jury’s Yellow’ and ‘Nicky Crisp’ showed less
winter injury but did not flower consistently.
Cultivars that displayed no more than light winter injury despite the challenging
conditions were: ‘Rendezvous,’ ‘Winter’s Fire,’
‘Twilight Glow,’ ‘Donation,’ ‘E. G. Waterhouse,’
‘Snow Flurry,’ ‘Winter’s Star,’ ‘Winter’s
Waterlily,’ ‘Winter’s Charm,’ ‘Carolina Moonmist,’
‘Winter’s Beauty,’ ‘April Kiss,’ ‘April
Dawn,’ ‘April Rose,’ ‘Spring Song,’ ‘Pink
Butterfly’ and ‘Ryuko.’ Almost impervious to winter injury
were ‘Spring’s Promise,’ ‘Winter’s Interlude,’
‘Pink Icicle,’ ‘April Blush,’ ‘April Remembered’
and ‘Snow Man.’
Attracting the most late winter attention were Camellia Forest Nursery’s
April Series along with ‘Donation’ and ‘E. G. Waterhouse’
for sheer numbers of flowers and ‘Pink Icicle’ for size, vigor and
numbers of flowers. Among the fall flowering types, ‘Pink Butterfly’
and ‘Carolina Moonmist’ attracted attention along with the ‘Winter’
series from the US National Arboretum.
Lilacs: Trials have been ongoing for 20 years. Objectives have been disease
and insect resistance as well as garden worthiness. Our hope is that we will
find cultivars that will perform well across North Carolina. In 2003 we have
had lilacs in bloom continuously since mid April and, if you count the tree
lilacs, they will be in bloom well into June. In the mountains, all the common
lilac, Syringa vulgaris, hybrids . . . lilacs that look and smell like what
most folks want lilacs to be . . . grow well. Those reported to be mildew free
actually are nearly mildew free in our trials. However, most of the common lilacs
eventually had borer problems and required significant pruning. ‘Wedgewood
Blue,’ ‘Miss Ellen Wilmott’ and ‘Albert Holden’
have been among our favorites.
The small leaf lilacs have shown good performance in the piedmont as well as
at Fletcher but they do not ‘look and smell’ like lilacs. Among
these,
Syringa microphylla ‘Superba,’ Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’
and Syringa ‘Tinkerbelle’ have shown spectacular bloom and should
be considered on their own merits rather than being compared with common lilac.
They were all in bloom by mid to late April in 2003 and held their flowers well
despite heavy rains, some hail and snow.
The late flowering lilacs are also abundant producers of flowers. The colors
are spectacular but this group has also suffered the drawback of not looking
or smelling like common lilacs. For us, Preston hybrids ‘Miss Canada’
and ‘Redwine’ performed well in shades of pink and red while the
Korean lilac, Syringa patula ‘Miss Kim’ flowers a consistent light
violet.
We’ve come to the conclusion that our best hope for a lilac across the
state will be a hybrid. Fortunately, there is a hybrid group with parentage
including the common lilac and a very early bloomer Syringa oblata. In fact,
S. oblata consistently tried to flower in March when we had it in trials . .
. and the petals froze 9 out of the 10 years we had it. In the piedmont it fares
much better. The S. oblata cultivars ‘Betsy Ross’ and ‘Cheyenne’
are definitely worth trying but were not in our trials.
The most promising group of hybrids is generally labeled as Syringa x hyacinthiflora.
Some of the best-known plants in this group are referred to as Descanso hybrids
for the Southern California garden that introduced them. Canadians tend to call
this group American lilacs while in the U.S. growers tend to call them Canadian
lilacs. S x hyacinthiflora are also often called early lilacs because they bloom
before common lilacs in much of the U.S. and Canada. However, they bloom at
about the same time as common lilacs in the Asheville area. ‘Angel White’
has been reported to perform well as far south as Tifton, GA and also does well
for us. ‘Mt. Baker’ is a slightly better white under our conditions.
Both are terrific. Seeing differences in the shades of blue and purple is a
challenge for Dick. ‘Excell’ and ‘Evangeline’ are among
the earliest to flower for us . . . their flowers wearing snow this year. ‘Asessippi’
is slightly later and similarly pigmented. Choose any of the three if you want
a lilac-colored lilac flower. ‘Blue Skies’ is slightly bluer while
our favorite reddish purple is fragrant ‘Pocahontas.’ A cultivar
we see as pink is ‘Lavender Lady’ but we prefer ‘Maiden’s
Blush’ for a more lilac-like fragrance, delicate pink flowers and growth
habit.
We’ve tried many more, but the cultivars we have mentioned have been the
best performers under our conditions . . . so far. If there is a conclusion,
it is that in the mountains and upper piedmont of NC you can grow most lilacs
if you pay attention to their culture. As you get into warmer parts of North
Carolina, look towards the little leaf types and the Syringa x hyacinthiflora
hybrids.
None of our lilac research would have been possible without the generosity of
NCAN as well as the following nurseries: Bailey, Carlton Plants, Knight Hollow,
Monrovia, Spring Meadow, Syringa Plus and numerous gardens that shared a rooted
cutting or species seedling just so we could watch them grow.
