Lilac for Spokane

In a few weeks, we will begin celebrating the season of the blooming lilacs here in the aptly named Lilac City. This is a celebration that’s been around since the early 1900s when the lilac emerged as the city’s symbol. But for MarvaLee Peterschick and the members of the Spokane Lilac Society, this year’s celebration started a little early, for a very special reason.

Tomorrow, the Spokane Lilac Society is introducing Syringa vulgaris “Spokane” to the world at the Associated Garden Clubs Plant Sale at Manito Park

That means Spokane finally has its very own lilac.

And it’s a beauty.

According to Peterschick, the “Spokane” lilac has large trusses of very fragrant double magenta colored blooms, which turn a lighter pink, almost silver white, when fully opened. The shrub itself is vigorous with dark green foliage that is tipped burgundy bronze when new.

Getting to the introduction of “Spokane” had its challenges, though.

“Back in 1993 when we had (the International Lilac Society meeting) in Spokane, it became evident to us that other ‘lilac cities’ had a lilac named after their city and Spokane didn’t,” she said. So members of the society began talking to the folks visiting from all over the country about how to go about getting one named for Spokane.

And that’s when the first hurdle was encountered.

“The people, mainly from the East, who knew everything about lilacs and the best propagators, said they knew of the perfect lilac that would be wonderful for representing Spokane,” said Peterschick. They told the Spokane group they’d be connected with a breeder who had just created several as-yet-unnamed new hybrids.

“We didn’t know anything as we were a new organization so we went along with it,” said Peterschick.

Several months went by and the Lilac Society heard nothing.

“Everyone was supposed to have an idea where it was but they couldn’t come up with that little seedling that wasn’t named,” said Peterschick. Yet a few months later, a gorgeous new lilac named “Martha Stewart” appeared. “The lost seedling had been found but not in time to secure it for Spokane.”

The Lilac Society was back to square one.

But not all was lost, soon another lilac angel appeared to help. Reva Ballreich, a lilac breeder from Idyllwild, Calif., and president of the International Lilac Society at the time of the Spokane meeting, stepped in to offer some seedlings she was working on.

She had very fond memories of her time in Spokane, especially being able to ride in the Lilac Festival parade. Ballreich told the local Lilac Society that if they were willing to wait, they could have first pick when the new seedlings were ready. That was in 1995.

Breeding new lilacs is not like breeding new kittens, so it ended up taking several years to produce these specific new hybrids.

Here’s how the process goes: First the two parent plants had to be selected and crossed. The resulting hybrids then had to be grown for several years to produce blooms so the breeder could see what the new lilac would look like. There is a lot of trial and error in this process and there is no speeding up Mother Nature – only time will tell what comes out of the different crosses.

In 1999, Ballreich successfully produced nine seedlings that had enough potential to turn out as beautiful lilacs and, true to her word, Spokane got the first pick. The Spokane Lilac Society held an open house at Finch Arboretum in December that year and that’s where the Spokane lilac was chosen.

In the spring of 2000, Peterschick received the first tiny seedling from Ballreich to grow in her Rosalia garden. The bush grew from a few inches to five feet tall and bloomed for the first time in the spring of 2003.

“That was pretty good. A lot of times it takes longer than that. But I took really good care of it,” chuckled Peterschick.

But the challenges were not over yet.

Getting a new variety of plant registered with the International Society of Horticultural Science is a complex and detailed process. The ISHS is the international body responsible for managing the naming and registering of all new cultivars and varieties.

The breeder, or originator, is supposed to document the plant in detail and submit the paperwork to the ISHS along with a proper dried and pressed plant specimen showing the bloom and the leaf for the archives. The plant was ready for registration and propagation in 2001, but unfortunately Ballreich became ill and was unable to complete the process.

So Peterschick stepped in to help and she soon heard from the lilac registrar in Canada, who does the registration of all new lilacs.

“He contacted me to see if he could work with me to get it done. When that lilac bloomed in (2003), I had pressed it. By luck it had the leaves with it. That was sent back there and that’s what’s on file,” said Peterschick.

The next hurdle was getting cuttings of the new lilac to a nursery to propagate it.

Briggs Nursery in Olympia had been selected to grow starts of the new plant. To get those starts, though, the breeder needed to take cuttings of the plant while it was dormant.

Ballreich intended to do this in the winter of 2002 but her health again interfered and she was unable to get them before they broke dormancy. So she had to wait another year to get them.

In the meantime, Peterschick’s plant grew a shoot and at the beginning of 2003, to ensure that Briggs had an extra source of scion wood, Peterschick and her husband David drove the little seedling all the way to Olympia.

Between the two sets of plants, Briggs finally had enough material to begin the two-year process of propagating and growing seedlings for wider distribution and sale.

So after 12 years of waiting, hard work and more than a little luck, “Spokane” is ready to make its debut.

This Saturday at the Associated Garden Clubs Plant Sale at Manito Park, the Lilac Society will have about 350 seedlings available for sale. They will be $10 each with a limit of one per person. Hours of the sale are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you can’t make this sale, the society will have another 350 seedlings available May 14 at the Garden Expo at the Spokane Community College.

Congratulations, Spokane Lilac Society. Thank you for working so long and hard to give the Lilac City a beautiful living symbol as its namesake.