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I find the changing topic and confusion interesting since 4 or 5 varieties of the evening primrose grow wild on my land. Telling the O speciosa from the O kunthiana can be hard.. It is confusing out there in the front field. Normal wild Oenothera Kuntianas are a paler pink than this magenta creation which has been hybridized and jerked with. The OP plant is not representative of the wild plants around here. The spreading characteristic of O. speciosa will drive the orderly gardener bonkers but the one who likes to work with plant characteristics in their design will appreciate this and the accidents that enrich garden.. My first garden that I saw with it used years and years ago was a really sensitive example of plant characteristics used appropriately. It was a tall bluff with a rock wall about 6' tall and the "lawn"(I use that term loosely) rose in a grade above i the wall. The owner mowed the grass pretty short in early spring and the grass grew and the EP grew up through it and the rocks on the wall making a beautiful cascading effect and covering the grass completely where it grew . Then as summer drew near it disappeared and the owner mowed her grass again. It made me search it out years ago and , believe me, at the time it was not very available in the trade, except by raiding the fields. I got my start from her of the tall bluff. Here in Texas The pink Oenotheras are "spring ephemeral of sorts. It goes dormant and disappears with the beginning of EARLY summer.. SO do not get this plant and expect it to last through the summer. This is its behavior in Texas. Maybe it's behavior is different in Concord New Hampshire or Lansing Michigan. Heat does make it go away till the next year..Also the caterpillars love to eat its foliage. They are long gone in my garden right now. I like the idea for this "does your garden look like your character Thread". YES, YES AND YES. Mine is as disorderly as I am, absolutely.Good thread idea. I think that all should have tolerance of the latin name/common name confusions. Besides, Those latin names change with the mounting regularity these days pushed by the committees of arguing scientists. They do help but there is as much name confusions in them as there is in the common names. Eupatorium, ageratatina, conoclinium , what is it? I asked a salvia guy was it Salvia Reptans or Salvia leptophylla . It seemed like a simple question but he could not give me a simple answer because he did not know what one was the days right one today. The committees were't clear in their last statement... We can educate people to loose their fear of the mysterious latin name. and we can be tolerant of those like me who abuse all language that is given them. I think it is a mark of an intelligent person who is fluid and fills in the blanks and looks for the intended meaning , even when it is through muddy waters. - Mara, Queen of the Maraprop ( I mean malaprop)

Just be aware that if you want lilacs for scent, the Jap. TL has none, although it is usually very floriferous. Look up the various species of Syringa, and the various hybrids and see which ones have characteristics you want, and then start looking for plants. If it's unusual, you may need to get it by mail-order (on-line-order?). It may be that your local nurseries won't have them now; I've noticed that many plants are in stock just before or as they flower, and then aren't around for the rest of the year. I guess it makes sense as many people tend to buy somewhat on impulse, and most nurseries have only so much display space. Since you can plant potted plants almost any time of the year, if you are willing to water them well, and baby them through the summer, you could take your list of desired lilacs to a good local nursery and ask if they can find them for you now. It might cost you a little more, but supplying plants IS their business, after all. If you want to wait, you could ask for the nursery to find them in the fall. Or, you could use the summer to find on-line sources, and order the trees you want for fall planting. Just be aware that many mail-order plants are smaller than you can get at a nursery, due to shipping costs and cares in packing.

Did that for some years. Find that, at least here (5b Cdn), (supermarket indoor) primulas are not a good buy. Indoors, the plants don't last very long and end up flowerless and straggly. It's also a long wait here from when they appear in supermarkets (January on) to when they can be planted out (just about May on) so don't find it worth keeping them and have, in fact, stopped buying them in such circumstances. I had previously planted out a number that appeared for sale in February/March. The large majority did not survive more than a year or two. On the other hand, find a range of primulas, purchased and planted during the growing season, have always done very well. I love primulas. They're a real stalwart for our May and into June garden. David Tomlinson (Merlin's Hollow) told me that in his experience, the white and the blue (indoor) ones, planted out, are most likely to survive. We still have a few, white and I think blue, that were planted out and have survived for years. Below two coming out of the snow, years after purchase (March 18, 2015).