Restoring a Historic Collection

Restoring a Historic Collection. . , Since the late 19th century NYBG visitors have enjoyed the beauty and fragrance of lilacs., Thanks to a generous gift from the Melville Foundation, the 2016 restoration of the Burn Family Lilac Collection honors New York Botanical Garden history while expanding the Collection to include some of the best contemporary choices for gardeners in this climate., The first lilacs at the Botanical Garden were planted in the late 1800s as shrub borders along the Garden perimeter. In 1912 horticulturist T.A. Havemeyer donated a group of lilacs from the collection of 20,000 he had amassed at Cedar Hill, his Long Island estate and nursery. Havemeyer continued to provide the Garden with plants from his collection until his death in 1936. The first Lilac Collection at this site was established in 1949 with hundreds of plants from Cedar Hill endowed by Havemeyer's widow, Katherine. The Collection was designed by celebrated landscape architect Marian Coffin, who had recently redesigned the Rose Garden., In 2012 the Garden retrained landscape architect Shavaun Towers to create a new plan for the Collection, which had declined over the decades as the landscape changed. Towers's design, based on Coffin's original drawings, utilized the site's topography and provided ample space for new plantings. Garden curators worked with lilac growers in New York, New England, and Canada to select new varieties with a range of bloom time and color. The restored Burn Family Lilac Collection features more than 120 different lilac varieties.