Syringa vulgaris 'Little Boy Blue'

Love Lilacs but simply don't have the space for another tree? Ultra-compact 'Little Boy Blue' is just what your garden needs! Reaching no more than 5 feet high and 6 feet wide after 10 years' growth, it is extraordinarily fragrant and beautiful, with sky-blue flowers that dominate any landscape.

Bred by John L. Fiala, author of a seminal work on Lilacs and noted for his superb plant introductions, 'Little Boy Blue' is bushy, well-branched, and vigorous, with terrific resistance to Japanese beetles, which keeps the foliage healthy and clean all season. The blooms open from purple-red buds in early to mid-spring, bursting into sky-blue magnificence and fresh, sweet fragrance. Utterly breathtaking!

The flowers persist for many weeks, superb for cutting as well as garden enjoyment. One of the best merits of this compact Lilac is that its blooms are at eye and nose level, so they can be enjoyed up closer than ever before!

'Little Boy Blue' reaches just 4 to 5 feet high and about 5 to 6 feet wide in a decade. It makes a lovely foreground planting to larger Syringa cultivars, such as 'Bellicent, 'Krasavitsa Moskvy,' and 'Betsy Ross,' as well as a companion to other compact varieties such as Tinkerbelle®. In the spring garden, it is a good precursor to Weigela and other later-blooming shrubs.

Give 'Little Boy Blue' full sunshine and well-drained soil. Long-lived and low maintenance, it is an indispensable feature of spring no northern or midwestern garden should be without! Zones 3-7.