Syringa vulgaris in commerce today. Lemoine's "French lilacs" extended the limited color range to include deeper, more saturated hues, and they also introduced double-flowered "sports", with the stamens replaced by extra petals. These cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: Syringa vulgaris Syringa vulgaris (lilac or common lilac) is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae, native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills. This species is widely cultivated as an ornamental and has been naturalized in other parts of Europe (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy), as well as
Bartram's Garden facade between 1758–1770. The house still stands, as does his original garden (circa 1728) and greenhouse (1760). Three generations of the Bartram family continued the garden as the premier collection of North American plant species in the world. The current collection contains a wide variety of native and exotic species of herbaceous and woody plants. Most were listed in the Bartrams' 1783 broadside "Catalogue of American Trees, Shrubs and Herbacious Plants" and subsequent editions. The garden also contains three notable trees: Bartram's Garden is the oldest surviving botanic garden in the United States. John Bartram (1699–1777), the well-known early American