President Lincoln Bare Root Lilac Bush

About President Lincoln Bare Root Lilac Bush

Syringa vulgaris ‘President Lincoln’
Originator: John Dunbar | Introduced: 1916 | Type: Common Lilac | Hardiness: Zones 3–7

💙 One of the bluest lilacs ever introduced, President Lincoln has been filling American gardens with lavender-blue flowers and incredible fragrance for more than a century.

President Lincoln is a beloved heirloom lilac famous for its unusual clear blue to lavender-blue flowers. Deep purplish buds open into large clusters of single flowers with that unmistakable, wonderfully sweet lilac perfume.

A vigorous, upright shrub, President Lincoln eventually develops into an impressive garden specimen approximately 8–10 feet tall. Its rich-green foliage creates a beautiful backdrop for the cool-toned flowers in mid-spring.

🌸 Flower & Garden Details

Flower Color: Clear blue to lavender blue
Bloom: Single flowers in large clusters
Fragrance: Strong, classic lilac fragrance
Bloom Season: Mid-spring
Foliage: Rich green
Habit: Vigorous, upright and open
Size: Approximately 8–10 feet tall and 6–10 feet wide
Light: Full sun
Hardiness: USDA Zones 3–7
Cut Flower: Exceptional
Best Uses: Cutting gardens, fragrance gardens, flowering screens, cottage gardens and specimen plantings

💙 The Lilac That Set the Standard for Blue

President Lincoln was introduced in 1916 by John Dunbar, the influential horticulturist who established and expanded the famous lilac collection at Highland Park in Rochester, New York.

And this wasn't just another purple lilac.

President Lincoln became famous for its unusually clear blue coloring, and for years it was considered the standard against which other blue lilacs were compared.

More than a century later, it remains a treasured variety.

There's also something beautifully fitting about its name. Abraham Lincoln and lilacs became forever connected in American culture through Walt Whitman's famous 1865 elegy written after Lincoln's assassination, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.

A blue lilac carrying Lincoln's name feels like a little piece of American garden history.

💛 Why Grace Rose Farm Loves It

There are purple lilacs—and then there are blue lilacs.

President Lincoln belongs in the second category.

We love its cool lavender-blue coloring, especially planted near white, blush-pink and deeper purple varieties where that unusual blue tone becomes even more noticeable.

But fragrance may be its greatest gift. Cut several stems in spring, bring them inside, and suddenly the entire room smells like lilacs.

Beautiful, fragrant and more than 100 years old, President Lincoln is exactly the kind of heirloom plant we believe deserves a place in today's gardens.

🌿 Growing & Care

Plant President Lincoln in full sun and well-drained soil. Give it enough room to mature into a substantial shrub and water deeply while your bare-root lilac establishes.

Lilacs bloom on old wood, so if pruning is needed, do it immediately after flowering. Avoid heavy pruning later in summer, fall or early spring, when you could remove the flower buds for the following season.

President Lincoln can also produce basal shoots as it matures. Allowing some to develop creates a larger, traditional lilac clump, or remove them periodically if you prefer a more defined specimen shrub.