Among lilac growers, his name is known far beyond the borders of our country. Not a single Russian or foreign breeder has created such a wide variety of lilac varieties (with the possible exception of representatives of the famous French Lemoine dynasty of breeders). In May of this year, the hero of the article would have turned 120 years old.
In just his life, Leonid Alekseevich created over 300 varieties of lilacs unsurpassed in beauty, however, only about 50-60 of them have survived to this day. The reason for this is the eternal indifference and mismanagement of our officials. Its lilac varieties differ in the size and habit of the bushes, flowering periods (from very early to very late), size, shape, degree of terry (from simple four-petalled to densely double), aroma and color of flowers (white, various shades of pink, blue, lilac, violet , magenta, purple, often with various color transitions and combinations, gradual color changes), size, shape and structure of inflorescences. Perhaps the most unusual in color among them is the chameleon variety “Moscow Sky”, which belongs to three color groups at once, since in half-opening its double flowers are deep lilac with a purple tint, in the blossoming state they are bluish-lilac, and when they have faded they are whitish -blue.
He was born at the time of flowering of lilacs - May 18, 1893 in the family of an honorary citizen of the city of Moscow, entrepreneur Alexei Semenovich Kolesnikov and became the fifth child in the family. The youngest child, like his brothers and sisters, received a good education: he graduated from the cadet corps and the economics department of the Moscow Commercial Institute. But in 1914, the First World War began, and Leonid went to the front as a driver. All of his further professional activities were related to cars: after the war, he worked as a mechanic, driver, and head of a car depot. Some authors write that at one time he was the personal driver of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, however, no documentary evidence of this has yet been found.
The Soviet government took away almost all the property of the Kolesnikovs. True, Leonid Alekseevich was lucky: he was left with a house donated by his mother in Vsekhsvyatskoe, which already became part of Moscow in 1917 (now it is the Sokol district). However, at the same time, the plot of land surrounding the house was reduced several times.
In 1919, a lilac period began in the life of 25-year-old Leonid Alekseevich: this year he planted his first lilac bush. And four years later, his collection included more than a hundred varieties and species of this shrub. Mostly it was a lilac selection from the famous French family nursery Lemoine. At that time, this was the best collection of lilacs in the entire Soviet Union. This varietal lilac can now be purchased without any problems at a garden center, at an exhibition, at a market, in an online store, or ordered by mail. And Leonid Alekseevich had to explore the territories of abandoned noble estates. Saving them from oblivion, he dug up varietal lilac bushes and planted them on his plot, establishing the names of the varieties according to the descriptions in pre-revolutionary catalogs. Soon L.A. Kolesnikov began breeding lilacs. The first seedlings bloomed already in 1923. Among them, he singled out the two best, which later became the varieties “Pioneer” and “Dzhambul”. The latter is interesting because it is the world's first lilac variety with white-edged petals.
At the end of 1939, Leonid Alekseevich was drafted into the war with Finland, and then the Great Patriotic War began... In 1941, when the Nazis bombed Moscow, one of the shells exploded in the garden of L.A. Kolesnikov, destroying a number of valuable seedlings and destroying some varietal lilac bushes, including those bred by Leonid Alekseevich in the period between the two wars.
After the end of the war, he continued his work in the automotive industry, and spent all his free time working in the garden, caring for, propagating lilac bushes and breeding this plant. He dedicated many varieties to the memory of the Great Patriotic War: “Marshal Zhukov”, “Marshal Vasilevsky”, “General Vatutin”, “Alexander Matrosov”, “Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya”, “Liza Chaikina”, “Polina Osipenko”, “Spring 1942”, “Defenders of Brest”, “Partisans”, “Young Guards”, “Victory Day” and others. Of particular interest among them are three varieties of lilac dedicated to military pilots: “Alexey Maresyev” with lilac double flowers with a bluish tint, “Captain Gastello”, which also has lilac double flowers, but with a purple tint, and “Valentina Grizodubova” with pink double flowers . All three of these profusely flowering varieties have petals that are curved like an airplane propeller blade, making them especially attractive and unique in their own way.
To the 800th anniversary of the Russian capital in 1947, Leonid Alekseevich dedicated his the best variety – the famous and legendary “Beauty of Moscow”(international name “Beauty of Moscow”). Many domestic and foreign lilac lovers and experts consider this long-blooming variety to be an international masterpiece of selection, the number one lilac in the world.
Garden L.A. Kolesnikov on Sokol was always (even during the war) open to visitors. Here is one of many responses. Its author is writer A.N. Tolstoy: “You create beauty, Leonid Alekseevich - what is a higher and nobler occupation than this! I am sure that the gardens near Moscow will owe you a new flourishing. Until today I thought that lilac is lilac, today I saw a magical lilac garden. Thank you".
It is interesting that in addition to about 5,000 lilac bushes, over 100 varieties of roses, daffodils, tulips, peonies, irises, lilies, mock oranges, gladioli (including selections by Leonid Alekseevich himself), apple trees, cherries, plums and other plants grew in this garden - only about 15,000 copies.
In 1952, Leonid Alekseevich received the Stalin Prize“for the development of a large number of new varieties of lilac” - this was the official wording. In the same year, the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house published his small 52-page book with the laconic title “Lilac.” It describes in detail the agricultural technology of lilac and its propagation, and provides recommendations for breeding work with this wonderful ornamental crop. In the same year, it was decided to create an experimental breeding lilac nursery. In 1954, L.A. Kolesnikov was appointed technical director of this nursery, and two years later - its director. A place for the nursery was allocated in the near Moscow region - the village of Kaloshino (now this is the Northern Izmailovo district of Moscow).
Every spring, vandals visited the Kaloshin nursery, just as before the garden on Sokol, breaking off the blooming lilacs and stealing entire bushes. The construction of the growing metropolis also began to approach the nursery. It got to the point that one day tractors drove through the garden, crushing a whole row of bushes. The threat of extinction loomed over the nursery... Trying to save the main work of his life, Leonid Alekseevich wrote letters to officials, went to the authorities, but was eventually sent into retirement. However, he still defended the nursery, albeit at the cost of his life: January 28, 1968 L.A. Kolesnikov died of a heart attack and was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
In 1973, the International Lilac Society posthumously awarded L.A. for his services in the field of selection and promotion of this garden crop. Kolesnikov “Golden branch of lilac”. And in 1975, the Kaloshin nursery was reorganized into the Lilac Garden, which still exists (you will learn more about it in one of the next issues of the magazine).
After the death of Leonid Alekseevich, in the Kaloshin nursery, from the seedlings he received, the most beautiful, long-lasting and abundantly blooming, having large (3 cm in diameter), pure white, double flowers, reminiscent of miniature roses in shape and possessing a delicate aroma, were isolated. In 1974, this seedling became the “In Memory of Kolesnikov” variety.
Alexey Antsiferov, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences
Their addressee is an amazing personality with a destiny typical of a Russian person of the twentieth century and with unique abilities. A graduate of the cadet corps and commercial institute, he worked all his life as a simple driver. He took part in all the wars that happened in his lifetime: from the First World War to the Great Patriotic War. Having lost his house on Kuznetsky Most and his estate in Yalta after the revolution, he lived at a dacha near Moscow in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye, where, on five hundred square meters, in his free time from work and wars, he bred about 300 varieties of lilacs. Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov was not deprived of fame and attention from the authorities, he even received the Stalin Prize “for developing a large number of new varieties of lilac.” They were dropped off at the Kremlin. But after the death of the remarkable breeder - without any malicious intent, but simply through negligence - most of his heritage perished.
Now there are only about 50 Kolesnikov varieties left. We will never see the huge purple inflorescences of “Danko’s Heart”, the snow-white “Branch of Peace” and the mysterious “Vasilisa the Beautiful”. “Shostakovich’s Melodies” will not sound in our garden and “Blue Distances” and “Top of the Pamirs” will not beckon, and “The Deceiver” will not surprise with the metamorphoses of its color. “Snowflake”, “Cornucopia”, “Recognition”, “Laureate” - all of them are only in old photographs.
Some varieties exist in a single or only a few copies. "Dzhambul" became the world's first lilac with white-edged petals, but did not become widely known. The size of its flowers is up to 2 cm, many of them are five-petaled. The famous "Sensation", considered the only cultivar in the world with a white border, has slightly larger flowers and smaller inflorescences. They also differ in color: “Dzhambul” is cooler, it has more bluish-lilac tones than the purple “Sensation”. Other rarities are “Marshal Zhukov” and unique university varieties registered by V.D. Mironovich after the death of Leonid Kolesnikov. These are “Great Victory”, “Defenders of Moscow”, “Fiftieth Anniversary of October”, “Moscow University” and “Daughter Tamara”. Not so often you see “Raj Kapoor”, “Jawaharlal Nehru”, “Banner of Lenin”, “Bride” - they all deserve to decorate gardens and parks.
Today, lilac is experiencing a surge in popularity. Each new spring increases the army of fans of Kolesnikov’s unique varieties. After all, they are present in all color groups, and sometimes do not fit into any of them due to the changeability of their color. The variety of flower shapes - “cups” and “saucers”, “roses”, “stars” and “propellers” - is also their striking distinctive feature. Some people like erect inflorescences directed upward, others - drooping ones. There are also compromise options. With all the diversity of Kolesnikov’s varieties, they are united by one common quality - expressiveness. This is why it can be so difficult to choose lilacs for your garden.
Of the white lilacs, the first place is occupied by the famous “Beauty of Moscow”, whose pinkish-lilac buds with a satin sheen form an exquisite duet with already opened pearl-white flowers. The shape of its flowers is perfect, and its fame is so great that lilac lovers all over the world pronounce this name without hesitation. The variety "Memory of Kolesnikov" is not so famous, but no less beautiful. Its large round flowers, reminiscent of half-opened roses, retain their shape until they completely fade, and each flower in the brush is graphic and self-sufficient. Large, slender, openwork inflorescences of the "Soviet Arctic" make this snow-white lilac a good addition to any collection. "Galina Ulanova" with light, weightless inflorescences that cover the bush in abundance, has long been registered not only in dachas near Moscow, but also in the park of Buckingham Palace. Large slender openwork inflorescences of "Bride" of a delicate pinkish-white color give this early variety a very touching appearance. "Polina Osipenko" is the owner of lovely three-row white flowers, each petal of which is illuminated with delicate blue, lilac and pink shades.
Among lilacs with rich, piercing colors, there are several leaders. "Red Moscow" is the owner of slender, dense and very durable inflorescences of bright purple color, directed into the sky. "Dawn of Communism" attracts with large, heavy, drooping inflorescences of a deep, purple-red color with a violet tint. “Kremlin chimes” are unusually decorative in the half-opening stage, when bright carmine-purple buds are adjacent to large, densely purple flowers. "India" amazes with drooping inflorescences, the length of which (with good care) can reach more than 40 cm. The color of its flowers is purple-violet with a reddish-copper saturation. Not to mention "Twilight" for its dark, purplish-violet color and variety "Leonid Leonov". Its flowers, light lilac on the outside and violet on the inside, are very similar to cups, flowering is abundant and long-lasting.
Among the most cheerful group of pinkish lilacs are varieties that will forever be remembered by those who have had the chance to see them at least once in full bloom. The large flowers of "Hydrangea" resemble the shape and color of the hydrangea itself. Large inflorescences (30 x 30 cm) generously cover the bush, turning it into a huge pink bouquet. "Daughter Tamara" attracts with the abundance of flowering and the brightness of its color. The inflorescences of "Olympiada Kolesnikova", named after the breeder's wife, look very elegant thanks to the bright contrast of violet-purple buds and soft pink flowers. Petals twisted in different directions give the flowers a perky look.
Among Kolesnikov’s bluish and lilac lilacs, several varieties are also marked with the “quality mark”. "P.P. Konchalovsky" and "Memory of Kirov" are the owners of incredibly beautiful double flowers and spectacular heavy inflorescences. The large dense inflorescences of “Dream” droop under their weight, the large simple dense lilac flowers look like wax cups, the bushes are low and spreading. Pale blue double flowers of "Nadezhda" are collected in very dense large inflorescences, compact bushes of medium height. "Moscow Sky" is a chameleon variety with original coloring. Its large, symmetrical double flowers, when half-opened, are deep lilac with a purple tint, when in full bloom, they are bluish-lilac, and when they are fading, they are whitish-blue. Therefore, in the international register this variety is classified into three color groups at once.
“Military” varieties occupy a special place. First of all, these are “Alexey Maresyev”, “Captain Gastello” and “Valentina Grizodubova” with the famous Kolesnikov “propeller” flowers. Their petals curl as they bloom, but this is the only thing that unites the completely different varieties. Very rare and spectacular varieties - "Marshal Zhukov" and "Marshal Vasilevsky", worthy of their big names. But, unfortunately, about ten varieties dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War have been lost forever.
Oh my God, what a day it is today -
It is full of colors, fairy tales and flowers,
And among them the favorite LILAC -
As if from fairy gardens!..
(L. Kuzminskaya)
It's hard to imagine May without flowering lilac bushes. They are found in almost every garden or city park, because lilacs give us their fabulous blooms, turning into a stunningly decorative plant.
Lilac has been growing in the Russian expanses for more than two centuries, it has long become near and dear to us, but the concept of “Russian lilac” appeared more than 70 years ago thanks to one amazing person - Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov. Many lilac lovers know the name of this wonderful breeder, who lived and created his magnificent varieties of lilac in his garden in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye on the outskirts of Moscow.
Now this area is called "Sokol" after the residential village founded in 1923, as well as the metro station of the same name.
Lilac "Beauty of Moscow"
For the first time, he saw varietal French lilac bushes on his father’s family estate. In 1890, Leonid’s father, Ryazan tradesman A.S. Kolesnikov, purchased a 2.5-hectare plot of land on the outskirts of Moscow, on the banks of the Khodynka River, and built a small beautiful house with a roof of high pointed domes. But the garden, which would eventually become known to the whole world, was to be grown by his son, Leonid Alekseevich. At the age of 20, he, an officer in the Russian army, a graduate of the cadet corps and then a commercial school, planted two bushes of varietal French lilac on the eve of the First World War.
Leonid Kolesnikov
Leonid Alekseevich was in love with lilacs... After the revolution, he worked for many years as a mechanic, and then as a driver. Once on an everyday winter evening back in 1919, an incident happened to Leonid Alekseevich that turned his whole life upside down. He stood at the entrance to the Bolshoi Theater, waiting for a passenger. And when he came out with a basket of lush lilacs, the air seemed to smell like spring. Contrary to custom, the withered lilacs were not thrown out of the artist’s house. An inquisitive driver took the basket of flowers home.
“How I looked after it,” wrote Leonid Alekseevich in 1957 about this lilac, “what I watered and fed it with, it’s hard to remember now. But the lilac bloomed again... From that moment on, I became “sick” of lilac. I began to bring bushes, cuttings, and lilac seeds from everywhere, and began to sow and plant them near my house, on a former wasteland. It is clear that I had no knowledge of floriculture - I planted what seemed best. The only thing I can say is that I did everything with desire, tried my best. Theoretical knowledge came to me later, when I began to study the works of great natural scientists.”
An amazingly interesting life has begun...
1921 Leonid Alekseevich meets Maria Pavlovna Nagibina, a researcher at the Botanical Garden of Moscow University, and, following her advice, carefully selects lilacs for his garden.
"Red Moscow"
1927 The lilac collection becomes the largest in the Soviet Union and numbers about one hundred varieties. By crossing them, Leonid Alekseevich develops new varieties.
"Banner of Lenin"
1938 The number of varieties bred by Kolesnikov and hitherto unseen in nature reaches eighty.
"Memory of Kirov"
In 1939, Kolesnikov was drafted into the Finnish War. The breeder’s wife, Olimpiada Nikolaevna, takes care of the garden and doesn’t let her many years of work go to waste. In 1940, at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition, she presented the varieties created by Leonid Alekseevich. The exhibition committee's certificate of honor is the first public recognition of the breeder's achievements.
The return to peaceful life and beloved lilacs was short-lived - the Great Patriotic War again forced us to take up arms. Along with the war, trouble comes to the Kolesnikovs’ house and garden. In 1941, during a Nazi air raid, several shells fell near the house. Fear for her daughter Tamara, the horror of the picture that appeared before her eyes - deep craters, destroyed bushes - dealt an irreparable blow to the mental health of Olimpiada Kolesnikova. Until the end of her life, she never recovered from her experience. In December 1942, Kolesnikov was seriously wounded; after hospitalization, he was sent to serve in Moscow. Despite the hardships of wartime and personal problems, he finds moments for his beloved lilac. The garden continues to get better. “Dream” already lives in it, beautiful, thick lilac, with large, up to 3 cm flowers and large thirty-centimeter inflorescences, “Morning of Moscow”, “Dawn of Communism” and many others, awaiting names, recognition and future glory.
"Dream"
"Vestal"
1943 At the end of May, Alexey Tolstoy visits the lilac garden. Admired by the extraordinary beauty, he writes: “You create beauty, Leonid Alekseevich - what occupation is higher and nobler than this! I am sure that the gardens near Moscow will owe you a new flourishing. Until today I thought that lilac is lilac, today I saw a magical lilac garden. Thank you".
Two days later, Emelyan Yaroslavsky’s entry appears: “What could be more beautiful than love for nature, if it is connected with love for man, as the most beautiful in nature. Leonid Alekseevich loves and creates new forms of beauty in nature - doesn’t he serve this person, who, when the time comes, will cover the earth with beautiful gardens?”
"Marshal Zhukov"
1952 The number of new varieties of lilac reaches three hundred. Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov is awarded the Stalin Prize.
"Konchalovsky"
1956 The fragrant lilac garden near the Sokol metro station became one of the main attractions of Moscow in the late 50s and early 60s
The Moscow Council allocates a plot of land near the Pervomaiskaya metro station for a lilac nursery. Kolesnikov, a tireless researcher and florist, a man with bright impulses of soul, is appointed its director.
Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov's lilac continued to win the hearts of people, conquer the world, but anxiety did not leave him - a new building was approaching his house and his garden...
(The ending follows.
)
Captain Gastello
India
Memory of Kolesnikov
Dawn of communism
Photos of lilacs from the nursery website
Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov was born in Moscow in 1893 (1894) in the family of businessman and honorary citizen of Moscow Alexei Semenovich Kolesnikov. Leonid Alekseevich’s father was a fairly wealthy man, owned a house on Kuznetsky Most, had a house and 2.5 hectares of land in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye near Moscow, as well as an estate in Yalta. It was at home in Vsekhsvyatskoe that Kolesnikov first saw varietal French lilac, a flower that became the main work of his life.
Leonid Kolesnikov studied at the cadet corps and a commercial institute. When, after the October Revolution, the Kolesnikovs’ house on Kuznetsky Most and the estate in Yalta were nationalized, Kolesnikov moved to live in a dacha in Vsekhsvyatskoe. There, on his five hundred square meters, Kolesnikov planted several bushes of varietal lilac before the First World War, and in the 1920s he began to develop new varieties in earnest. Beginning with the First World War, he worked with automobile equipment all his life, first as a simple driver, then as a mechanic and as a motor depot manager. Even after recognition and national fame came to him, he continued to work at the car depot. Kolesnikov was a self-taught genius whose education had nothing to do with selection. While working at a motor depot, in his free time he studied the works of Michurin. At first, Leonid Alekseevich only collected lilacs, collecting about 100 varieties. Then he began to breed his own hybrids, crossing hundreds of different seedlings and selecting the best plants. Lilacs were his passion. Kolesnikov dug up valuable varieties of French lilac from ruined noble estates, saving rare specimens from extinction. Kolesnikov determined the names of varieties from pre-revolutionary catalogs.
Leonid Alekseevich went through all the wars that happened in his lifetime: the First World War, the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War. During the Stalinist period he was arrested several times, but was released each time. In 1942, Kolesnikov was seriously shell-shocked and returned from the front to Moscow. At home, he was saddened to discover that many promising seedlings had been killed during the bombing. At the same time, Leonid Alekseevich’s wife, Olimpiada Nikolaevna, experienced a severe mental shock from which she could no longer recover. Right before her eyes, shells exploded next to the Kolesnikovs’ house in Bolshoi Peschany Lane, and this sight left an indelible mark on Olympiada Nikolaevna’s psyche. During this difficult period of his life, Kolesnikov began breeding his own military-themed varieties, which later became famous: “Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya”, “Spring 1942”, “Marshal Vasilevsky”, “Marshal Zhukov”, “Captain Gastello”, “Alexei Maresyev” ", "Valentina Grizodubova", "Polina Osipenko" and others.
In 1952, Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov was awarded the Stalin Prize “For developing a large number of new varieties of lilac”; this is probably the only time in history when such a prize was awarded to a person for floriculture. After this event, Kolesnikov’s lilacs were planted in the Tainitsky Garden in the Moscow Kremlin. Reviews left about lilacs bred by Kolesnikov have been preserved. Alexei Tolstoy wrote in 1943: “You create beauty, Leonid Alekseevich - what an occupation is higher and nobler than this! I am sure that the gardens near Moscow will owe you a new flourishing. Until today, I thought that lilac is lilac, today I saw a magical lilac garden. Thank you." A few days later, Emelyan Yaroslavsky wrote about the same garden: “What could be more beautiful than love for nature, if it is connected with love for man, as the most beautiful in nature. Leonid Alekseevich loves and creates new forms of beauty in nature - doesn’t he serve this to the man who, the time will come, will cover the earth with beautiful gardens? Lilac Kolesnikova won prizes at exhibitions in Holland and Belgium. The very early varieties of lilac, which Kolesnikov created, bloomed in early May, and the latest ones - at the end of June.
After Kolesnikov was awarded the prize, it was decided to organize an experimental breeding nursery under his leadership. Then, in the first half of the 1950s, Kolesnikov’s brochure “Lilac” was published, which is still read with interest to this day. The nursery was located on the site of the current park on Salvador Allende Street (Sokol district). This lilac garden in the 1950-1960s was a real landmark of Moscow. It seemed that here Kolesnikov’s talent and hard work would receive all the necessary conditions. During this period of time, Kolesnikov was written about in magazines and newspapers, TV shows with his participation were filmed, many professionals and amateurs began to enthusiastically engage in lilac breeding. But in reality, everything turned out not so rosy. New buildings were getting closer and closer to the garden, vandals often came here and broke off the lilacs, but on average it takes about ten years to create a variety. There was no official security in the garden, and Kolesnikov, who had already gained worldwide fame, was forced to guard the garden at night.
In 1954, it was decided to open a nursery in Kaloshino, but this issue was officially resolved only in the mid-1960s. Then, in the Moszelenkhoz system on Shchelkovskoye Highway in Kaloshin, an experimental demonstration nursery was organized, the task of which was the mass propagation of new varieties of lilac. Kolesnikov was appointed director of the nursery. The new place had to be seriously improved, and Leonid Alekseevich himself, being already an elderly man with poor health, carried carts with earth with his own hands, and spent almost the entire Stalin Prize on renting cars for transporting five thousand varietal bushes, as well as on gardening tools necessary for work. But this nursery also remained unguarded and suffered from attacks by vandals. One day, during the flowering period, someone uprooted a rare yellow lilac, and the bright red one, which had not even been given a name yet, disappeared without a trace. When the lilacs in the nursery had already begun to take root, new buildings in Izmailovo began to approach its borders. Bulldozers passed through the lilacs, and Kolesnikov could not stop it. He wrote to various authorities, addressed influential and famous people, but as a result, the talented world-famous breeder was sent into retirement. What was left of the nursery was included in the Pervomaisky state farm of ornamental crops, located nearby. But here no one cared about the fate of lilacs, and gradually many valuable varieties were lost. Somewhat earlier, in 1960, the boulevard closest to the Kaloshin nursery was named Sirenev. On this street, Alexey Leonidovich, together with schoolchildren, planted many lilac bushes. The children continued to take care of the flowers. And Kolesnikov explained to them that this lilac would grow with them, delighting Muscovites with its beauty.
The death of a huge number of varieties bred by the breeder became the most devastating tragedy for him. Seeing the indifferent and mismanagement of his life's work, Leonid Alekseevich suffered greatly. He wrote: “... starting in December 1962, I experienced a period of tragedy in my life, caused by a passive attitude towards the works I had already created. The feeling of oppression, meaninglessness and hopelessness of life’s struggle does not leave me. Heavy gray clouds hang over me, despondency and melancholy press to my tormented heart." In 1968, Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov died of a heart attack; he was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. There are no lilacs growing on his grave - there is not enough space. There was no malicious intent in the destruction of many varieties of lilacs; it was all due to negligence and a passive attitude, as a result of which a significant part of Kolesnikov’s heritage was lost. Fortunately, unlike domestic botanical gardens and nurseries, where the elite variety of lilac “Marshal Zhukov” cannot be found, in Canada, it is still growing in the royal gardens.
In 1973, the International Lilac Society posthumously awarded Kolesnikov the Director’s Award, Leonid Alekseevich’s relatives received a golden branch of lilac as a sign of international recognition of his services, and in 1975, a lilac garden was formed on the site of the nursery on Shchelkovskoe Highway. True, throughout its entire existence. And now he is not in the best condition. Today, out of the 300 unique varieties that Kolesnikov bred, approximately 50 have survived, and yet his varieties are widely known throughout the world. Lilac variety "Galina Ulanova" grows in the park of Buckingham Palace in London; Kolesnikov's lilac can also be found in the Royal Botanical Gardens (Hamilton, Canada), Holden Arbaritum and Arnold Arbaritum (USA), and is included in the syringaria collections of many botanical gardens around the world.
Among the disappeared varieties of Kolesnikov are “Danko’s Heart” with purple inflorescences, the snow-white “Branch of the World”, as well as “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “Shostakovich’s Melodies”, “Blue Distances”, “Top of the Pamirs”, “Deceiver”, “Snowflake”, “ Horn of Plenty", "Recognition", "Laureate" and many others. Many varieties remained in single or small copies. The "Dzhambul" variety was not widely used, although it was the world's first lilac with white-edged petals. The "Sensation" variety is now is considered the only cultivated variety in the world with a white border, the color of its flowers is slightly different.Very rarely now you can find such varieties as “Raj Kapoor”, “Jawaharlal Nehru”, “Banner of Lenin”, “Bride”, although they are all highly decorative, and can decorate any garden or park.
Now lilac is experiencing a new wave of popularity, and Kolesnikov’s varieties are becoming in demand again. It is sometimes very difficult to make a choice - the shapes of flowers, their shades, the shape of inflorescences, the appearance at different stages of flowering are so diverse. The varieties “Hydrangea”, “Olympiad Kolesnikov”, “P.P. Konchalovsky”, “Memory of Kirov”, “Dream”, “Nadezhda”, “Sky of Moscow” are very popular.
Nowadays, in Moscow there is a public children's organization "Flower Squad", which is planting lilacs in different areas of Moscow and even in other countries. For example, in 2011, members of the squad planted a personalized lilac named after commander Konev at his monument in Prague. Kolesnikov’s team also planted lilacs in Austria, Poland, Slovakia, and Belarus.
In 2008, a decision was made to establish a lilac garden on Poklonnaya Hill. It was planned that the garden would include Kolesnikov’s varieties dedicated to the heroes of the Second World War and Victory, as well as varieties of other famous breeders. So far this idea has not been implemented, because growing varietal lilacs is not so easy. First you need to find and collect varieties that have become very rare these days, then grow them to adulthood, and all this takes time. For example, the “General Panfilov” variety of lilac grows only in Almaty, and the “Marina Raskova” variety can only be found in a monastery near Bryansk. I really want to believe that enthusiasts will be able to preserve the endangered rare varieties of lilac, which were bred by Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov, and more than one generation of people will be able to admire the beautiful flowers.
