Meyer Lilac

(Oleaceae - Olive Family)

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• Form
  • medium-sized ornamental shrub (or small ornamental tree, when grafted onto a standard)
  • species form slowly matures at about 6' tall by 8' wide
  • spreading oval growth habit (where the oval shape is on its side)
  • slow growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • performs best in full sun in moist, well-drained soils, but is urban tolerant and adaptable to poor soils, dry soils, compacted soils, soils of various pH, and especially to heat and drought (but not adaptable to poorly drained sites)
  • propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings, but also by seeds
  • Olive Family, with virtually no diseases or pests (including a complete resistance to powdery mildew, which plagues many of the old-fashioned traditional lilacs)
  • abundantly available in container or ball and burlap form, and sometimes grafted onto a standard
  • as with most Lilacs and full-sun ornamental shrubs, its flowering is greatly reduced if it is placed in partial shade

• Foliage
  • medium to dark green, opposite, orbicular to rhombic in shape, entire but slightly wavy-margined, about 1" long, with veination that is nearly palmate
  • leaves are glabrous, entire, dull-shiny, never infested with powdery mildew, and have an ineffective chartreuse to golden-brown fall color
  • due to its partial shade tolerance, it foliages nearly to the ground, which is especially valuable when it is pruned into formal hedge form, as it does not become leggy

• Flowers
  • lavender-white to violet-purple, fragrant, in late May, as 4" long fragrant inflorescences that completely cover the shrub
  • flowering profusely at an early age, and because of the shrub's dense twigginess and partial shade tolerance, it has a fair number of floral buds buried in the interior stems that are preserved even if it is sheared back in late Summer or Autumn, and therefore loses most of its flowering buds for the following season

• Fruits
  • brown capsules on the Winter-persistent fruiting stalks are not ornamental

• Twigs
  • light brown to gray, with Winter floral buds that are small, oval, and distinctly checkered (due to the differential color pattern on the overlapping floral bud scales)
  • exhibiting dense twiggy branching on relatively thin branches (unlike all other Lilacs, which have moderate to sparse branching on medium- to thick branches)

• Trunk
  • usually not applicable, unless the shrub has been grafted onto a standard (typically at about 4' in height) and becomes treeform

• ID Summary
  • Meyer Lilac has several unique traits as compared to all other Lilacs: a spreading growth habit coupled with a densely twiggy density yields an overall medium-fine texture, small checkered Winter floral buds, rhombic to orbicular small foliage with nearly palmate veination, and 4" long profuse inflorescences that are spread relatively evenly over the entire shrub canopy

• Function
  • foundation, entranceway, border, group planting, informal or formal hedge, or specimen shrub

• Texture
  • medium-fine texture in foliage and fine texture when bare
  • thick density in foliage and when bare

• Assets
  • fragrant dense inflorescences in late May
  • very urban tolerant
  • compact yet spreading Lilac
  • flowers at an early age
  • no powdery mildew on the foliage
  • foliages nearly to the ground (and therefore not leggy [as are all other Lilacs], which is valuable when it used as a hedge)

• Liabilities
  • poor fall color
  • slow growth rate

• Habitat
  • zones 3 to 8
  • native to Northern China

• Alternates
  • shrubs with fragrant flowers (Clethra alnifolia, Itea virginica, Philadelphus coronarius, Syringa species/hybrids/cultivars, Viburnum x burkwoodii, Viburnum carlesii, Viburnum x juddii, etc.)

• Variants
  • Meyer Lilac can be grafted onto a Lilac Standard, forming a small ornamental tree that has a densely twiggy, spreading canopy
  • Syringa meyeri 'Palibin' (or 'Palibiniana') - Dwarf Korean Lilac - the most common cultivar of the species, valued for its even more compact habit (to 4' tall by 6' wide)
  • Syringa patula 'Miss Kim' (also listed as Syringa velutina 'Miss Kim') - Miss Kim Lilac - the most popular Lilac today, essentially a vertically-growing complement for 'Palibin' above ('Miss Kim' slowly matures to 6' tall and 4' wide), with larger but fewer purplish-lavendar fragrant inflorescences to 5" long, with larger, ovate, wavy-margined, cupped, mildew-free leaves to 3" long, having a mixed and subtle fall color

• Translation
  • Syringa translates from the Greek as "pipe", in reference to the hollow stems.
  • meyeri is named after F.N. Meyer, who introduced this species to the United States from Northern China in the early 20th century.

• Purpose
  • Meyer Lilac is a fragrant-flowering, small to medium-sized shrub of medium-fine texture that is very urban tolerant, especially to heat and drought.

• Summary
  • Syringa meyeri is known as a compact but spreading, small-foliaged Lilac with showy late May lavender-purple inflorescences, without powdery mildew on its leaves and especially urban tolerant, and a Lilac that can also be grown as a formal or informal hedge.