Hidden Landscape Gems

150 S. Park Avenue, Lombard, IL lombardparks.com/lilacia-park/

Open year-round dawn to dusk Admission: free

by Heather Prince

In the middle of downtown Lombard, a beautiful park blossoms each spring. Lilacia Park is filled with 700 lilac shrubs and about 35,000 tulips that put on a magnificent fragrant floral display in May. More than 200 cultivars of lilac are represented, from antique heirlooms to the newest hybrids. The eight and a half acres of park have been lovingly maintained since 1927 when they were gifted to the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

The parkland originally was part of the estate of Colonel William Plum and his wife Helen. Colonel Plum settled in Lombard in 1869 after the Civil War and the couple filled the grounds of their home with lilacs after traveling to the celebrated gardens of famous lilac breeder Victor Lemoine in France. The Plums brought back two lilac cuttings, a Syringa vulgaris “Mme Casimir Périer,” a double white and a Syringa vulgaris “Michel Buchner,” a double purple. These formed the beginning of a love affair with lilacs as Colonel and Mrs. Plum developed a vast collection. When Helen died in 1924, the Colonel lost interest in the flowers. He offered the property for sale but was told it was such a beloved part of Lombard, that the collection should remain intact. Upon his death in 1927, Colonel Plum willed his estate to the city as a public park and his home as the public library in memory of Helen.

Jens Jensen agreed to design the Lombard Community Park, now known as Lilacia Park. You can find many elements of Jensen’s aesthetic when you visit today. Roughly wedge-shaped the park welcomes you with winding brick paver paths that lead to intimate seating areas, a grotto, a fountain pool, a council circle, butterfly garden and more. Greenhouses provide annuals for the city and offer a plant sale. An allée of artfully pruned Red Jade crabapple shades a generous lawn panel leading to the pool with its fountain spray hugged with stacked limestone beneath a concrete stage. The council ring also overlooks the pond and invites conversation. An oak meadow anchors the northwest corner and drifts of daffodils and tulips are planted beneath mature species of native trees. Jensen chose sweeping beds of tulips as they bloom about the same time as lilacs for a doubly saturated spring floral display. Lilacia Park invites visitors in with its accessible paths that loop through the themed gardens for butterflies and hummingbirds, but also groves of mature trees, and of course the lilacs. It is human-scaled and you’ll find residents strolling through, picnicking, families exploring, and perhaps an open air art class. The park is also home to festivals, holiday lights, movies, concerts, and other special events throughout the year. Lombard’s Lilac Time is celebrated the first two weeks of May with events from tastings to tours, concerts to coronations and parades. Experience the heady fragrance of hundreds of lilacs in the spring but return again and again as this gem of a park unfolds through the seasons.