Amidst winter's cold and gloom, the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo is decorated with lilac blooms for the fourth time, thanks to old forced-flowering methods applied in our Greenhouses.

The more than a century-old tradition of Nicholas II's family to adorn the palace with forced lilac blooms was revived by our museum in the winter of 2022.

This year, sixteen lilac bushes are readied by our gardeners for moving from the Greenhouses to the palace rooms from late January to early April.

The springtime spirit in the Maple Drawing Room and the Mauve Rooms of Empress Alexandra Fiodorovna is enhanced with the old Common Lilac cultivars Sensation and  Ludwig Späth, a.k.a. Andenken an Ludwig Späth and Souvenir de Louis Spaeth.

The lilac fest in the imperial rooms was preceded by flowering mimosas, which also came from the Upper Greenhouses in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoe Selo.

The lilac will be accompanied by tulips, hyacinths and daffodils in later January and by roses, hydrangeas and lilies in February.