Twenty five years ago this month, at the 1972 International Lilac Society's meeting in Rochester, a new strain of lilacs was introduced. This new type of lilac was called the Rochester strain, and was raised by Richard Fenicchia, then Superintendant of Horticulture of the Monroe County Parks Department.
Fenicchia, who passed away January 27th, won awards from the International Lilac Society for many of his plants, including the highest hybridization award for the Rochester hybrids.
From the French hybrid lilacs produced by Victor Lemoine in 1870's France, a seedling of double white lilac "Edith Cavell" became the first of the Rochester strain. This new lilac has an improved creamy white color and different petals than its ancestor. In lilacs, the usual number of petals is four, but the Rochester strain has five petals and thus a unique flower. In some cases, the petals can be as many as seventeen, with a floret the size of a quarter.