Syringa, Common Lilac, French Lilac 'Lavender Lady'

Common/French and Hyacinthiflora lilacs require substantial winter dormancy and do not bloom reliably south of Z6.

'Lavend...Read Moreer Lady' was hybridized by Water Lammerts at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, CA, Z10a, and is recommended for planting in southern CA. It would also be worth testing in Z8 and Z9 in the southeastern US.

However, Dirr says it's a hybrid S. vulgaris x S. laciniata. It won't have the traditional common lilac fragrance.

I planted 2 of these in our yard in autumn 2012. Almost immediately after planting they lost all of their leaves and went dormant, I thou...Read Moreght they died but decided to wait and see if they'd bounce back in spring. I'm glad I did! They leafed out in March and bloomed in April. The blooms were beautiful though not incredibly fragrant, one was a light lavender with a lot of blooms, the other ended up more of a royal purple with smaller clusters. Shortly after that we had an early heatwave, unfortunately the foliage was still tender so it burned pretty badly, we lost almost all of the leaves. Again I thought it was a goner. Then it started to recover and, I couldn't believe it, it bloomed again! I've never heard of these being repeat bloomers, I don't know if it was just a freak occurrence or if this is normal. And better yet, the second flush was even more fragrant and bountiful than the first! This time the foliage matured to a deep leathery green and lasted until late autumn. I watered twice a week during the hottest part of summer (we had a few weeks with temperatures at or above 105F), once a week before and after that, then once every two weeks in autumn.

I can't wait until they bloom again this year, they're absolutely covered in little purple buds! I'm definitely planning to buy more, though this time, I may give them a bit of shade.

Does anyone know if this plant will take the heat and humidity of the deep south...as in Mississippi? We certainly qualify for the low c...Read Morehill of winter but I need to know if it has the chutzpah to thrive in our hot/humid summers. Feedback welcome!!