Lilacs for warm climates

Looking for a lilac for my mom that would grow in her California garden. (Bay Area, San Mateo to be exact.) Any recommendations? She's zone 9.

Gwen

I'm not an expert on lilac but I don't believe it would survive zone9 heat. There are some lilac/lavender crape myrtles like "Yuma" or "Muskogee" that look like lilac and flower all summer. That's what we have to use here.

My parent s live in CA in Palo Alto same zone i believe, i m not a lilac specialist either but she has seen some ,but they don't grow like they do here in Ohio , i believe they need the cold climate snow country , if i remeber her saying, when she asdked the people about there lilacs.
hope it helps
sue

Have you considered what they call "summer lilacs" -- Ceanothus? They might be a better choice for her.

Guy S.

The common lilacs I loved growing up in MN grow here in southern MD, but not nearly as well. Syringa patula performs much better in our hot and humid summers, but even that may languish in California. What zone is San Mateo? S. patula isn't the same as the s. vulgaris so loved in the upper midwest and new england, but it's a nice plant.

This is an old thread, but I grow lilacs here in Zone 10b. I have both the Descanso Garden hybrids and the regular ones. The Descanso Garden hybrids are often sold bareroot in the spring at our local Home Depot. They are 'Lavender Lady,' 'California Rose,' and 'Angel White.' I've also seen some different varieties in five-gallons at Home Depot including Syringa vulgaris ‘Nadezhda.' Some varieties will flower more willingly than others in warm climates. I bought two lilacs from Forestfarm several years ago, and they both flower every year for me. One of them is Syringa 'Krasavitsa Moskvy' (Beauty of Moscow), and the other I'm trying to obtain a name for. This is the 'Krasavitsa Moskvy' flowering now.

This is my other double one:

Here is some good info. that I just found here: http://www.spi.8m.com/hyacinthifloracat.html regarding Hyacinthiflora,
Early Season Lilacs:

"These lilacs are cross hybrids of syringa oblata and syringa vulgaris. They flower 7-10 days prior to Syringa vulgaris. They also flower more constant on a yearly basis and have accentuated fragrances. In the fall their leaves take on bronzy, red color.
These lilacs can be planted in northern and southern climates from zones 2 to 9.
They set buds much easier than vulgaris thus are excellent for California , Northern Florida and the Carolina’s and northern states also."

I have Descanso hybrids, they are suitable for climates without winter chill, develloped in Southern California. They are just as beautiful as 'regular' ones!

Bought a Descanso from ForestFarm this year. The buds haven't opened and I fear it's dead or about to be: must write to them and ask for suggestions or a replacement. Sigh.

I miss the lilacs of my youth, back in Illinois, and when I lived in Colorado I'd visit Georgetown, 9000 feet up and with rather a later springtime, just to see the display, about a month after lilacs bloomed in Denver and Boulder. It was only when my Mom put a bouquet of so-fragrant blossoms in the middle of the dinner table that I rebelled: the whole meal seemed lilac-flavored...

Mark., plenty of shrubbery in flower down here in the spring, mind you

So far, my regular early-blooming lilacs, Syringa hybrids, flower better than the Descanso gardens warm-weather lilacs. I've had both for about the same amount of time, and my Syringa hybrids have bloomed magnificently two years in a row while I am still waiting for my Descanso ones to bloom. I did move them around quite a bit though, and they do say it takes three years for a lilac to bloom once planted.