Spreading with age and can get leggy. The species is subject to powdery mildew (purely cosmetic), but cultivars and hybrids can offer improved resistance.
Sunset claims intolerance of strongly acidic soil, but I cannot find anyone else backing this up. Let's just say it prefers circumneutral soil and leave it at that. Sandy soil tolerance is also debated (USDA vs. NCSU & Cal Poly).
NCSU recommends eating the flowers raw or battering and frying.
Despite not being native to the eastern USA, Doug Tallamy lists lilacs as supporting 35 native species of butterflies/moths, fourth among all non-native genera.
I refuse to attempt to treat the countless cultivars here, as life is too short. However, here are some that Druse claims to be extra-fragrant: 'Andenken an Ludwig Spaeth', 'Belle de Nancy', 'Charles Joly', 'Declaration', 'Hulda', 'Katherine Havemeyer', 'Krasavitsa Moskvy', 'Leon Gambetta', 'Madame Florent Stepman', 'Madame Lemoine', 'Maiden's Blush', 'Mechta' (spicy), 'Miss Ellen Willmott', 'Mrs. Edward Harding', 'Paul Thirion', 'Primrose', 'Sensation', 'Victor Lemoine', 'Wedgwood Blue', 'Wonderblue', and 'Yankee Doodle'. 'President Lincoln', on the other hand, has a "lighter, soapier" scent.
Sources: OSU, Sunset, Stoecklein, Missouri BG, UConn, Cal Poly, NCSU, USDA, Druse.
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