Quick Guide: spring, hardy, sun/semi-shade, height:3.6m/12ft, width: 3m/10ft

Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, is one of the best-loved garden shrubs. There are a number of varieties, some double flowered, all of them fragrant. Lilacs are deciduous, bearing panicles of white, lilac, pink or purple flowers up to 25cm/l0in long in late spring.

GROWING Plant in autumn in sun or semi-shade on any type of fertile soil. Lilacs take 1-2 years to become established. Remove a11 the flowers in the first season to reserve the plant's energies. In later years dead-head after flowering. Remove lower buds and branches to form a single stem if desired. Pull off any suckers that appear. Prune old, straggly bushes in late autumn, cutting back to 90cm/3ft from ground level.

PROPAGATION Take 10cm/4in half-ripe cuttings with a heel in summer and insert in a peat/sand mixture in a propagator at 16°C/61°F. Pot up when rooted and grow on in a cold frame. Transfer to a nursery bed in the spring and grow on for 2 years before planting out.

VARIETIES `Candeur', cream; `Firmament', pale blue; `Massena', deep purple; `Maud Notcutt', the best white; `Mrs Edward Harding', double, red; `Marechal Foch', cerise; `Primrose', pale yellow; `Paul Thirion', double, rose-red, very fragrant; 'Souvenir de Louis Spaeth'.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS Frost damage leading to grey mould; lilac blight.