growing up and living in & around swo for most all of my life, i have found li-lacks & li-locks to be pretty much equally randomly distributed pronounciations, almost to the point that nobody is sure which, if either, is the correct way of saying it. i’ve even heard both versions used multiple times, in the same conversation, by multiple participants in the conversation.
so i guess my answer to the question: “is li-lack, or li-lock, the correct way to say the name of that wonderously aromatic plant?” would be: “yes.”
I’m about halfway in between on pronunciation. I’m just hoping ours will bloom this year. They were old and overgrown when we moved into the house, and we trimmed the worst of it a few times, and then a few years ago my son just cut all of it back almost to the ground. They’re growing back, and we have green, but we haven’t had blooms since then. They’ve gotten to be about four feet high, so I’m hoping they’re recovered enough to give us flowers. I miss them.
Spokane, WA is the Lilac City. Or a Lilac City, at least (lie-LACK, so obviously the two Lilac Cities know what they’re talking about). We have an annual Lilac Parade, as well as (one of the) largest open-to-the-public foot race in the world… based around the Lilac. It’s called Bloomsday.
And the city is positively CRAWLING with Crapflowers – I mean, Lilacs. I go around in spring wishing for winter, it’s that bad.
I have lie-locks in my yard here in TN, but they haven’t been blooming much. I thnk they need pruning, but Cub Mistress (who lives nearby) mentioned that it might be because we’ve had mild winters. I think after they finish blooming I’m going to prune and fertilize and see what next year brings.
Hmm. Rochester NH is also “Lilac City”. They celebrated that a while back by painting smudges on the road that no one in a million years guessed were supposed to be lilacs until they mentioned it on the local news station. I wonder if it’s a rule that Rochesters need to be associated with those stupid flowers:p
