Rochester Lilac Festival

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Lilac Festival 2005 at the Highland Park LilacFestival 2005.JPG
Lilac Festival 2005 at the Highland Park

The Rochester Lilac Festival is an art, music, food and flora festival hosted annually in early to mid May in Highland Park in Rochester, New York. Highland Park possesses a huge collection of lilacs, featuring more than 1800 bushes and over 500 different varieties. [1]

Contents

The festival is started with a parade and frequently hosts concerts and other attractions during the week. The Highland Park arboretum and nearby Ellwanger Garden [2] can be toured free of charge and are open to all visitors. The fields surrounding the arboretum host a myriad of vendor's tents and food stands. The festival ends each year with the annual Lilac 10K road race and 5K Family Fun Run. [3] The 10K Course is USATF certified.

History

In 1888, nurserymen George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry endowed the Rochester community with 20 acres (81,000 m2) of gently rolling hills that are now known as Highland Park. [4] It was noted as one of the nation's first municipal arboretums. Renowned park designer Frederick Law Olmsted was responsible for final development of Highland Park. The park's lilac collection was started by horticulturist John Dunbar in 1892 with 20 varieties, some of which were descendants of slips of native Balkan Mountain flowers that were carried to the new world by early colonists. Today, over 500 varieties of lilacs cover 22 of Highland Park's 155 acres (0.63 km2).

The inspiration for the festival dates to 1898 when 3,000 people came to the park one Sunday in May to see the lilacs. Ten years later, 25,000 people came to the first organized lilac festival. [4] Since then the number of viewers has grown to over 500,000 and the festival is held over the course of ten days.

With the 2020 edition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 123rd was deferred to 2021. [5] The schedule was adjusted from the ten day format to three weekends in 2021 and 2022, and is planned to return to its original format in 2023, running May 12 to May 21st. [6]

See also

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<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Dampieri Elm cultivar

The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Dampieri', one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with a variety of Field Elm U. minor, is believed to have originated in continental Europe. It was marketed in Wetteren, Belgium, in 1851 as 'Orme de Dampier', then in the Low Countries in 1853, and later identified as Ulmus campestris var. nuda subvar. fastigiata DampieriHort., Vilv. by Wesmael (1862).

<i>Ulmus</i> Berardii Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Berardii', Berard's Elm, was raised in 1865, as Ulmus Berardi, from seeds collected from large specimens of "common elm" growing on the ramparts at Metz, by an employee of the Simon-Louis nursery named Bérard. Carrière (1887), the Späth nursery of Berlin and the Van Houtte nursery of Gentbrugge regarded it as form of a Field Elm, listing it as U. campestris Berardii, the name used by Henry. Cheal's nursery of Crawley distributed it as Ulmus nitens [:Ulmus minor] 'Berardii'. Smith's of Worcester preferred the original, non-specific name, Ulmus 'Berardii'.

<i>Ulmus</i> Koopmannii Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Koopmannii' was cloned from a specimen raised from seed sent from Margilan, Turkestan by Koopmann to the Botanischer Garten Berlin c. 1880. Noted in 1881 as a 'new elm', it was later listed by the Späth nursery, catalogue no. 62, p. 6. 101, 1885, as Ulmus Koopmannii, and later by Krüssmann in 1962 as a cultivar of U. minor. Margilan is beyond the main range of Ulmus minor. Augustine Henry, who saw the specimens in Berlin and Kew, believed Koopmann's Elm to be a form of Ulmus pumila, a view not shared by Rehder of the Arbold Arboretum. Ascherson & Graebner said the tree produced 'very numerous root shoots', which suggests it may be a cultivar of U. minor. Until DNA analysis can confirm its origin, the cultivar is now treated as Ulmus 'Koopmannii'.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Webbiana Elm cultivar

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Webbiana', or Webb's curly-leaf elm, distinguished by its unusual leaves that fold upwards longitudinally, was said to have been raised at Lee's Nursery, Hammersmith, London, circa 1868, and was first described in that year in The Gardener's Chronicle and The Florist and Pomologist. It was marketed by the Späth nursery of Berlin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as U. campestris WebbianaHort., and by Louis van Houtte of Ghent as U. campestris crispa (Webbiana). Henry thought 'Webbiana' a form of Cornish Elm, adding that it "seems to be identical with the insufficiently described U. campestris var. concavaefoliaLoudon" – a view repeated by Krüssmann.

The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Corylifolia Purpurea' was raised from seed of 'Purpurea' and described as U. campestris corylifolia purpurea by Pynaert in 1879. An U. campestris corylifolia purpurea was distributed by the Späth nursery of Berlin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, corrected the U. campestris corylifolia purpurea of their 1930s' lists to U. glabraHuds.corylifolia purpurea by the 1950s. Green listed 'Corylifolia Purpurea' as a form of U. glabra.

The putative Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Dovaei', or Doué elm, was raised by the André Leroy nursery at Angers, France, as Ulmus dovaei, before 1868. The Baudriller nursery of Angers marketed it as Ulmus Dowei, "orme de Doué", suggesting a link with the royal nurseries at nearby Doué-la-Fontaine, which stocked elm. Green considered it a form of wych.

<i>Ulmus glabra</i> Nana Elm cultivar

The dwarf wych elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Nana', a very slow growing shrub that with time forms a small tree, is of unknown origin. It was listed in the Simon-Louis 1869 catalogue as Ulmus montana nana. Henry (1913), referring his readers to an account of the Kew specimen in the journal Woods and Forests, 1884, suggested that it may have originated from a witch's broom. It is usually classified as a form of Ulmus glabra and is known widely as the 'Dwarf Wych Elm'. However, the ancestry of 'Nana' has been disputed in more recent years, Melville considering the specimen once grown at Kew to have been a cultivar of Ulmus × hollandica.

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Rugosa' [:'wrinkled', the leaves], was first listed in Audibert's Tonelle (1817), as "U. campestris Linn. 'Rugosa' = orme d'Avignon [Avignon elm] ", but without description. A description followed in the Revue horticole, 1829. Green (1964) identified this cultivar with one listed by Hartwig and Rümpler in Illustrirtes Gehölzbuch (1875) as Ulmus montana var. rugosaHort.. A cultivar of the same name appeared in Loddiges' catalogue of 1836 and was identified by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as Ulmus montana var. rugosaMasters, Masters naming the tree maple-bark elm. Ulmus montana was used at the time both for wych cultivars and for some cultivars of the Ulmus × hollandica group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Ellwanger</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens</span> Park in Redding, California

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<i>Ulmus minor</i> Monumentalis Elm cultivar

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Monumentalis', the tomb elm (Grabmal-Rüster), was raised as a sucker of U. suberosa by Sebastian Rinz, the city gardener of Frankfurt, before 1855 and listed by the Jacob-Makoy nursery of Liège in their 1861 catalogue as Ulmus monumentalisRinz, "a new variety". Kirchner (1864) described it, confirming that it had only recently been propagated by Rinz and established in the nursery. It was distributed from the 1880s by the Baudriller nursery, Angers, and by the Späth nursery, Berlin, as U. campestris monumentalisRinz., appearing separately in their catalogues from U. minor 'Sarniensis', the Guernsey or Wheatley Elm, with which, according to Henry, it was confused on the continent. Krüssmann, for example, gives 'Monumentalis' as a synonym of 'Sarniensis'. 'Sarniensis' is known as monumentaaliep [:monumental elm] in The Netherlands. Springer noted that the Dutch monumentaaliep was "not the actual monumentaaliep but U. glabraMill.var. Wheatleyi Sim. Louis", and that it "should be renamed U. glabraMill. var. monumentalisHort.(non Rinz)". In England, Smith's of Worcester listed Ulmus monumentalis separately from Ulmus 'Wheatley' in the 1880s.

<i>Ulmus glabra</i> Superba Elm cultivar

The wych elm cultivar Ulmus glabraHuds. 'Superba', Blandford Elm, with unusually large leaves, was raised by Gill's of Blandford Forum, Dorset, in the early 1840s as Ulmus montana superba and was quickly distributed to other UK nurseries. It was confirmed as a form of wych, and first described by Lindley in The Gardeners' Chronicle, 1845, later descriptions being added by Gill (1845) and Morren (1848), who called it U. montana var. superba. Morren had adopted the name 'Superba' from the Fulham nurseryman Osborne in 1844, who supplied him with the tree – presumably one of the nurseries supplied by Gill. Morren states that 'Superba', already in cultivation in England, was introduced to Belgium by Denis Henrard of Saint Walburge, Liège, that in 1848 it had been present in Belgium for only three years, and that this variety was the one described as 'Superba' by Osborne, whom Henrard had visited at his nursery in Fulham in September 1844. 'Blandford Elm', with leaves of the same dimensions, was soon for sale in the USA.

References

  1. "Rochester Lilac Festival". Rochester Events. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  2. Mills, Wendy. "Rochester's secret garden, the Ellwanger Garden, is a stroll through the city's horticulture history". Spectrum Local News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  3. "The Lilac Run presented by the Louis S. Wolk JCC of Greater Rochester". Rochester Events. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Ellwanger and Barry gift has lasted more than a century". Democrat and Chronicle . May 7, 2009. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  5. "Rochester Lilac Festival postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak". Rochester First. March 20, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  6. Bourtis, Evan (December 20, 2022). "Lilac Festival 2023 will be ten days in row instead of three weekends". WHEC-TV . Retrieved January 11, 2023.

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