Lilac

Syringa is home to 25 well-known species of fragrant flowering shrubs. These deciduous plants are native to temperate Asia and eastern Europe. They put out an exquisite frame of beauty with their deep green, heart-shaped lanceolate leaves (sometimes pinnate in a few species) and four-petalled small flowers that appear in a large oval cluster, showcasing a magnificent color palette of deep purple, blue,  lavender, red, pink, white, pale yellow, and cream.

It is not just the scenic beauty lilac plant is capable of enhancing, it has strong footings in the medicinal field too. Lilac flowers and leaves serve exceptionally when it comes to reducing fevers, expelling worms and parasites from the digestive tract, preventing the relapse of disease, and treating malaria. This nutrient-dense plant can also treat minor cuts, rashes, scrapes, sunburns, scabies, edema, bronchitis, productive cough, dry cough, cold and flu, cramps, and headache.

Lilacs are also munched about and taste divine when rolled in granulated sugar. People experiment profusely with this little diva, making wines, jellies, teas, cocktails, and whatnot. This show-stopping, heavenly-scented herb is brimmed with iridoids, phenylethanoids, phenylpropanoids, lignans, and many other beneficial constituents that grant lilacs their remarkable medicinal properties.

Lilac flowers can be picked during spring when the florets are at least 1/3rd open, preferably in a cool morning or evening. 

Lilac flowers can be either hand-picked or cut using the usual sharp gardening scissors.

Lilac flowers can be air-dried in a warm, dried, and dark area for around three weeks. Store the dried blossoms in an airtight container and use them accordingly.

It is best to start lilac in spring with seeds or you can go for autumn if your zone receives harsh winters. They can also be propagated using root cuttings in spring. It isn’t ideal to grow lilacs indoors in a pot as they usually don’t thrive robustly in those settings unless you are willing to vigilantly provide them with adequate exposure to sunlight.

After being properly established, they do not require much maintenance. Annual fertilization with moderate soil moisture is quite enough for lilacs to prosper.

Lilac seeds take approximately a month to sprout. They grow at a moderate pace but take around 3 to 6 years to get mature enough for producing flowers. These flowers are generously pollinated by bees and other insects to transform them into leathery capsules bearing seeds. These seeds can be employed to start a new lilac plant.

The purity and innocence of lilacs have garnered them the all-so-deserving limelight. Their medicinal properties make them an exceptionally highly-prized herb.

• Tincture - Fresh lilac flowers are macerated in alcohol, preferably vodka, for 2 to 4 weeks to yield a lilac tincture. Strain away the plant material and store the tincture in an amber glass airtight container to retain its efficacy.
• Tea - Dried or fresh lilac flowers can be steeped in hot boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes to make a lilac tea.
• Salve - Lilac infused oil is stirred in melted beeswax with a few drops of lavender essential oil (optional) to formulate a lilac salve.
• Syrup - Fresh lilac flowers are simmered in sugar solution for a few minutes to form a sweet and divinely scented lilac syrup.
• Infused Oil - Dried lilac flowers are infused in olive oil for 3 to 5 weeks on a sunny windowsill in a glass container to form lilac-infused oil.

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