From Booklist
Bennett takes readers on a trip down memory lane to celebrate the lilac, a shrub many first encountered on a fragrant spring day at Grandmother's house. Waxing both nostalgic and rhapsodic, Bennett reintroduces this much-loved but underutilized shrub to a new generation of gardeners, extolling its virtues as a landscape plant: hardiness, drought-tolerance, and soil adaptability, not to mention its intoxicating fragrance and ethereal flowers. Where once lilacs were thought to thrive only in colder climes, Bennett highlights newer cultivars that tolerate hotter and dryer conditions. Stunning color photographs make you fall in love with them all over again. Carol Haggas
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Beckie Fox, Canadian Gardening 01/2004
Detailed portraits... prompted me to make room for four more of these beauties in my already crowded garden.


Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2002
Full of gorgeous pictures, lilac facts ... and advice for selecting, planting, pruning and tending lilacs.


Jessie Deslauriers, Kingston This Week, May 3, 2002
Beautifully illustrated ... likely to become a classic -- one of those you just can't bear to do without.


David Hobson, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, May 11, 2002
After flipping through page after page of gorgeous photographs, I'm hooked.


Nanci Corrigan, The Kingston Whig-Standard, May 18, 2002
You'll learn a great deal from Bennett's guide.


Kerry Moore, Vancouver Province 06/04/2002
Total details on buying, planting, pruning, diseases and propagating from cuttings; for mail-order sources and public gardens with fine displays.


Steve Whysall, The Vancouver Sun, May 18, 2002
An excellent guide.


Jo Clavert, Canadian Living 04/01/2003
Combines practical advice, personal observations, literary quotes and full-color photographs in an irresistible mix.


Peter W. Bristol, Chicago Botanical Garden 05/11/2003
Recommended ... The information is all there.


Susan Mulvihill, Spokane Spokesman 06/20/2003
Perhaps every gardener's library should include a book dedicated to this fragrant shrub.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jennifer Bennett has lived "lilac country" for more than 20 years, and is well placed to appreciate the lilac, which not only flourishes in cultivated gardens but roams wild across the countryside. Tracing the journey of a plant that will "grow well everywhere, in every soil," from its origins in Asia through Europe and the United Kingdom to North America some 250 years ago, Bennett brings this most familiar and glorious of flowers to vibrant life.

The lilac's bloom is a sign of spring everywhere, but a lesser-known fact is that its emerging flowers are also used as indicators by farmers planning pest control and crop plantings and by scientists engaged in charting global warming. Filled with uncommon information about this common plant, Bennett's book features chapters on its history; planning, planting and pruning; the lilac's place in the landscape, whether alone, in groupings or with perennials; a species list of usual and unusual plants, with names that range from 'Charles Lindbergh' and 'Martha Stewart' to 'Charm' and 'Glory'; exotic lilacs for the adventurous connoisseur; and lilac aid, which addresses one of gardening's most vexing questions: "Why won't it bloom?"

Lilacs for the Garden is a compendium of essential information for all who cherish this most resonant of garden companions. Whether you seek detail on plant requirements, mulching, grafting, fertilizing, multiplication, bloom time, fragrance, abiotic and biotic stresses, renovating neglected lilacs or a list of recommended species and where to find them, Bennett's latest book is an essential resource.

FROM THE CRITICS

Gardening Life

Well-researched and -written, and lavishly illustrated, Bennett's book is an invaluable resource for the lilac lover.

Kitchener Record

Practical,thorough and informative ... a must-have for anyone interested in growing this gloriously hardy,sweet-smelling shrub. . .

Beth Botts - Chicago Tribune

Full of gorgeous pictures,lilac facts ... and advice for selecting,planting,pruning and tending lilacs. . .

Jessie Deslauriers - Kingston This Week