Syringa Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", by Walt Whitman, lilacs are a reference to Abraham Lincoln. "Syringa vulgaris" is the state flower of New Hampshire, because it "is symbolic of that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State" (New Hampshire Revised Statute Annotated (RSA) 3:5). Several locations in North America hold annual Lilac Festivals, including: Species and subspecies currently accepted as of July 2016: Syringa Syringa (lilac) is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely
Syringa vulgaris that hardy character of the men and women of the Granite State". Additional hardiness, for Canadian gardens, was bred for in a series of "S. vulgaris" hybrids by Isabella Preston, who introduced many of the later-blooming varieties, whose later-developing flower buds are better protected from late spring frosts; the "Syringa × prestoniae" hybrids range primarily in the pink and lavender shades. Most garden plants of "S. vulgaris" are cultivars, the majority of which do not exceed tall. Between 1876 and 1927, the nurseryman Victor Lemoine of Nancy introduced over 153 named cultivars, many of which are considered classics and still