begin blooming in Santa Fe? The only time we can go is the first week of May. Will that be too early?

?? I've been going for almost 20 years and I can't think of an area that has all of the lilacs.

Where is it? I'd love to see it!

Hopefully, someone will chime in.

I recently read Santa Fe is America's lilace capital.!

Wow, I couldn't remember seeing many lilacs in ABQ, let alone SF. I asked DH and he said he had lilacs when he lived in East Mountains of ABQ, but honestly I find it kind of hard to believe SF is capital of lilacs.

Back east, NYC suburbs, the place was lousy with them. They grew wild everywhere. I loved them and miss them here.

At SF's elevation, flowers [in general] tend to come later rather than earlier in spring.

Good luck in your search.
Deb

From highcountrygardening:

Lilacs are a signature plant for Santa Fe, where historic neighborhoods are filled with the bloom and fragrance of Lilacs in early May. Equally large, the Viburnums, are also fragrant, particularly Pink Dawn, Allegheny, Judd, and Burkwood. Spanish Broom is both xeric and intensely fragrant.

Never too old to learn something, thanks.
Deb

Mimi, thank you. Didn't expect to see you here! I'll look forward to seeing them. My lilacs (in AK) didn't bloom until late June last year.

Well that's news to me, too.

I wonder where these neighborhoods are that are filled with lilacs. I do see lots of hollyhocks, russian sage and poppies though.

Oh, the courtyard behind The Shed, Sena Plaza, has lots of flowers. Check it out.

Lilacs are my favorite!
I, too, did not know lilacs would bloom in N. Mexico. I haven't seen any since I lived in Michigan. I know they don't grow here in Florida...we have to settle for wysteria.

It's not that Santa Fe is filled with them necessarily, but how beautiful they are against adobe. Archbishop Lamy is said to have brought cuttings from back east, long ago.

Try contacting http://www.highcountrygardens.com

They are a nursery located in Santa Fe; hopefully they would know where you should look for the lilacs.

Lee Ann

I was curious so I sent an email to them and received this response:

Thanks for contacting us. Lilacs are everywhere around here. They bloom early to late spring. However, we are not really the Lilac Capital. I ran a google search, and found the following information for you. Let us know if we can provide further information.

http://www.gardenersnet.com/lilac.htm

Hope that helps you, hopingtotravel.

It may have been a book on Santa Fe that had pictures of adobe walls etc, where I read that. Maybe the author exaggerated?

Anyway, after the winter we are having, I'll be glad to see 'something' blooming!

I'm sure it will be lovely. Oh to be in Santa Fe now that May's here!

We were in Santa Fe May 2 through May 8. The lilacs were gorgeous in mid-bloom. I wouldn't say either, that there were tons of them, but a lot of the places with adobe walls had lilac branches hanging over the walls. Mimi, I did also see vibernum, and would not otherwise have known what it was.

In Taos there were flowering fruit trees also. I'm allergic to Scotch broom and I think there was some of that around. There was also a white-blooming bush--apparently wild--in the fields around Taos.

Oh, I'm so glad you were there for lilacs against adobe, one of the beautiful sights of the world.

It has been an early hot season here, you indeed got lucky. The above normal temps got the flowers blooming early this year. Glad you liked what you saw.

Deb