Up north where I grew up, just about everyone?s favorite plant was the lilac. Often the wonderfully aromatic shrub is called French lilac (Syringa vulgaris).

However, when I became a Texan, one of the delights I had to give up was having a lilac shrub or two blooming lavender in my landscape.

Lilacs despise our heat, our dry soil and our glaring sun and refuse to grow here. But that?s not the case any longer if you choose your lilac carefully.

By far, the best (and almost only) lilac that does well in Texas is the Persian lilac (Syringa persica). Be sure to insist on this species by its scientific name, even if you have to show the store this article. Some stores have it ? others may have to order it. But if you get an ordinary lilac, you?ll probably be buying a plant that?s simply going to die a slow death in Denton.

The Persian lilac, like its French counterpart, has very dramatic, lavender blossoms each spring, a wonderful aroma, and grows to 6 or 8 feet.

Like all lilacs, it blooms on the previous year?s wood, so it should only be pruned (if you prune at all) immediately after blooming each spring. The leaves are smaller and thicker, so it does better in hot and dry locations.

Learning to use native Texas plants, and other well-adapted species, is a key factor in using less water in your landscape, or what?s often called "xeriscaping."

Other examples: The white pine and the paper birch are popular up north, but in Texas you?d do much better with mondel pine and river birch for those same purposes.

Like almost all trees, shrubs and perennial flowers, lilacs are best planted in the fall (after Oct. 1 at the earliest), and should be heavily mulched. But now is the time to ask your nursery about the Persian lilac.