Today, the unique results of his efforts can be seen in England and Canada, but in his own homeland, the work of a breeder was not only ungrateful, but also dangerous.
The territory of VDNH will soon receive visitors in a new landscape park. One of the pearls of the giant natural complex is the revived sirengarium, a garden of lilacs, which was bred by a Russian breeder throughout his life. Leonid Kolesnikov. His birthday - May 18 - has been celebrated in our country as Lilac Day for several years now.
Hobby that has become a matter of life
Born in 1893, Leonid Kolesnikov, the author of many elite lilac varieties, was engaged in breeding only in his spare time, it was, one might say, his hobby. And he made a living by turning the steering wheel: he traveled behind the wheel of a military vehicle all the fronts of the First World War, and then the Civil.
His father instilled in him a love for technology, and in his youth Leonid could not even think that a delicate flower with a heady aroma - lilac - would captivate his heart forever.
And it all happened in one of the days of the turbulent 1918. Traveling along front-line roads, Leonid also visited ancient Russian estates. Of course, everything here was in desolation - destroyed houses, fallen arbors ... And only heavy fragrant clusters of lilacs bloomed as if nothing had happened, as if there was no war, fear, blood, death. Fascinated by unusual flowers, Leonid decided at all costs to collect the same rich collection of lilacs.
Already in 1919 the first bush was planted. By that time, Kolesnikov's interest in lilacs had become so strong that he seriously took up the study of rare pre-revolutionary catalogs, traveled to botanical gardens, nurseries, continued to tirelessly visit abandoned manor estates in search of seedlings...
Continuing to travel a lot around the country behind the steering wheel of an official car, Kolesnikov brings new seedlings and cuttings from each trip. Without a special education, the young man comprehended all the wisdom of selection in practice, through trial and error, without losing perseverance and faith in luck. His lilac garden, which he lovingly arranges on the outskirts of Moscow, is growing rapidly, by 1923 he managed to create the largest collection of lilacs in the country, which includes more than a hundred different varieties.
But Leonid wanted more. He was haunted by the glory of the beautiful French lilac, and he set as his goal to create varieties of Russian lilac, in no way inferior in beauty to the French. He tirelessly grows and crosses, observes and conducts experiments. And that's all - on weekends and in the evenings, because Kolesnikov still travels a lot.
War and flowers
In 1939, Kolesnikov had to temporarily leave his garden - the Finnish War began, and he was called to the front. He instructed his wife to look after and care for the precious lilac - Olimpiada Nikolaevna, after which he would later name one of the many varieties he bred.
And now the war is over, you can again plunge into your favorite business - but very soon a new, Great Patriotic War broke out, long and bloody.
Leonid Andreevich was overtaken by enemy weapons in December 1942. With a serious wound, he was sent to the hospital, and then to Moscow, to continue his service in a more relaxed atmosphere.
There is a lot of work, wartime leaves almost no free minutes, but still they are for their favorite business. The war had not yet ended - and new varieties were already blooming in his garden: unusual petals were colored with bright colors, they either bizarrely curved, resembling helicopter blades in shape, or proudly straightened miniature rays, copying stars on military shoulder straps. Kolesnikov names his best varieties in honor of the famous heroes of the deadly terrible war.
"Beauty of Moscow"
In 1947, Moscow solemnly and magnificently celebrated its anniversary - 800 years since its founding. Kolesnikov, in honor of this event, brought out a new variety and gave it the name "Beauty Moscow".
Today, this variety is well known to specialists all over the world, although to this day the name of this lovely lilac has changed somewhat: now the variety is called "Beauty of Moscow". Since 1947 and until today, this variety is considered the best in the world.
Black times
In 1952, Kolesnikov, a talented self-taught breeder, was awarded the Stalin Prize for his extraordinary lilac. By that time, there were already about 300 different varieties of lilacs in his garden.
But the award did not save from vandalism. Frequent raids by thieves forced Leonid Andreevich to become the night watchman of his unique garden himself. Moreover, new buildings were moving towards the outskirts of Moscow. Private houses were about to be demolished, in one of which the breeder lived.
Only in 1964 was an experimental nursery established in Kaloshin. Kolesnikov became its director. At the age of 71, the indefatigable enthusiast carried earth on a cart, hired cars at his own expense to transport and replant five thousand bushes ... The Stalin Prize received was spent without a trace on the purchase of garden tools and other needs of the nursery.
But there was still no guard, and as a result of the barbarian raids of the vandals, the unique yellow lilac, bright red and other unique varieties irretrievably perished. Kolesnikov himself, trying to protect the bushes, was once wounded with a knife, another time he was hit on the head with a brick.
When the lilac seemed to take root in a new place and it was possible to breathe a sigh of relief, it was decided to set up new quarters on the site of the nursery, and bulldozers drove through the flowering bushes ... The protests of the brilliant breeder did not help - he was simply sent to retire, and what was left from his amazing collection, they gave it to the nearest state farm, whose management was least interested in lilacs. Leonid Andreevich Kolesnikov died of a heart attack in 1968. They said that his heart could not stand the barbaric attitude towards his beloved offspring.
With the death of the breeder, many interesting varieties of lilacs were irretrievably lost - for example, "Marshal Zhukov"is not found anywhere in Russia, but it blooms magnificently in the royal gardens of Canada, thanks to the efforts of private collectors.
Of the 300 varieties grown by Kolesnikov, about 60 have survived today. Through the efforts of enthusiasts, gardens with the famous Kolesnikov lilac have appeared in various parts of Moscow and other cities in recent years. Some varieties delight the eye in the park of London's Buckingham Palace and in the private gardens of wealthy individuals around the world. The master himself did not live to see the universal recognition of his merits - the prestigious international award "Golden Lilac Branch" for the "Beauty of Moscow" variety in 1973 was received by his relatives.
Their addressee is an amazing personality with a fate typical of a Russian person of the twentieth century and with unique abilities. A graduate of the cadet corps and a commercial institute, he worked all his life as a simple driver. He participated 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 in a dacha near Moscow in the village of Vsekhsvyatsky, where he bred about 300 varieties of lilacs on five acres in his free time from work and wars. Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov was not deprived of fame and attention of the authorities, he even received the Stalin Prize "for breeding a large number of new varieties of lilacs." They were dropped off in the Kremlin. But after the death of a remarkable breeder - without any malicious intent, but simply through negligence - most of his legacy perished.
Now there are only about 50 Kolesnikov varieties left. We will never see the huge purple inflorescences of the "Heart of Danko", the snow-white "Branch of the World" 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 its metamorphoses of 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 was not widely known. The size of its flowers is up to 2 cm, among them there are many five-petalled ones. 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 colder, it has more bluish-purple tones than the purple "Sensation". Other rarities are "Marshal Zhukov" and unique university varieties registered by VD 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 there are "Raj Kapoor", "Jawaharlal Nehru", "Banner of Lenin", "The Bride" - they all deserve to decorate gardens and parks.
Today, lilac is experiencing a surge in popularity. Each new spring increases the army of admirers of Kolesnikov's unique varieties. After all, they are present in all color groups, and sometimes do not fit into any because of the variability of their color. A variety of flower shapes - "cups" and "saucers", "roses", "stars" and "propellers" - is also their bright distinguishing feature. Someone likes upright inflorescences looking up, someone likes drooping ones. There are also compromise options. With all the variety of Kolesnikov's varieties, they are united by one common quality - expressiveness. That is why it is so difficult to choose a lilac for your garden.
Of the white lilacs, the famous "Beauty of Moscow" ranks first, whose mauve buds with a satin sheen make up an exquisite duet with already opened pearly white flowers. The shape of her flowers is perfect, and her fame is so great that lilac lovers all over the world pronounce this name without hesitation. Variety "Memory of Kolesnikov" is not so famous, but no less beautiful. Its large rounded flowers, resembling half-opened roses, retain their shape until they fully bloom, and each flower in the brush is graphic and self-sufficient. Large, slender, openwork inflorescences of "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 received a residence permit not only in summer cottages near Moscow, but also in the park of Buckingham Palace. Large slender openwork inflorescences of "Bride" of delicate pinkish-white color give this early variety a very touching look. "Polina Osipenko" - the owner of lovely three-row white flowers, each petal of which is highlighted with delicate blue, purple and pink shades.
Among the lilacs with a rich, piercing color, there are several leaders. "Red Moscow" - the owner of slender, dense and very strong inflorescences of bright purple color, directed to the sky. "Dawn of Communism" attracts with large, heavy, drooping inflorescences of a deep, purple-red color with a purple overflow. "Kremlin chimes" are unusually decorative in the half-dissolution stage, when bright carmine-violet buds are adjacent to deep purple large flowers. "India" strikes 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 reddish-copper saturation. Not to mention "Twilight" for its dark, purplish-purple color and "Leonid Leonov" variety. Its flowers, light purple on the outside and purple on the inside, are very calyx-like, and bloom profusely and for a long time.
In the most cheerful group of pinkish lilacs, there are varieties that will forever be remembered by those who happened to see them at least once in full bloom. Large flowers "Hydrangeas" resemble the shape and color of the actual hydrangea. Large inflorescences (30 x 30 cm) generously cover the bush, turning it into a huge pink bouquet. "Daughter Tamara" attracts with an abundance of flowering and the brightness of its color. The inflorescences of Olympiad Kolesnikova, named after the breeder's wife, look very elegant due to the bright contrast of purple-purple buds and pale pink flowers. The petals twisted in different directions give the flowers a perky look.
Among the bluish and lilac lilacs of Kolesnikov, several varieties are also marked with the "mark of quality". "P.P. Konchalovsky" and "Memory of Kirov" - the owners of incredibly beautiful double flowers and spectacular heavy inflorescences. Large dense inflorescences of "Dreams" droop under their weight, large simple dense lilac flowers look like wax cups, bushes are low and sprawling. Pale blue terry flowers "Hope" are collected in very dense large inflorescences, bushes are compact, medium height. "Sky of Moscow" - a chameleon variety with original coloring. Its large symmetrical terry flowers in half bloom are thick lilac with a purple tint, blossomed - bluish-lilac, fading - whitish-blue. Therefore, in the international registry, this variety is immediately assigned to three color groups.
A special place is occupied by "military" varieties. First of all, these are "Alexey Maresyev", "Captain Gastello" and "Valentina Grizodubova" with the famous "propeller" flowers of Kolesnikov. Their petals twist as they bloom, but this is the only thing that unites completely dissimilar 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.
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 exception of representatives of the famous French dynasty of breeders Lemoine). In May of this year, the hero of the article would have turned 120 years old.
In total, during his life, Leonid Alekseevich created over 300 lilac varieties of unsurpassed 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. Varieties of its lilacs differ in size and habit of bushes, flowering time (from very early to the latest), size, shape, degree of doubleness (from simple four-petal to densely double), aroma and color of flowers (white, various shades of pink, blue, purple, purple , magenta, purple, often with a variety of color transitions and combinations, a gradual change in color), size, shape and structure of inflorescences. Perhaps the most unusual in color among them is the Sky of Moscow chameleon variety, which belongs to three color groups at once, since in half-life its double flowers are densely lilac with a purple tint, in the blooming state they are bluish-lilac, when flowering they are whitish. - blue.
Born at the time of lilac blossom - 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 economic department of the Moscow Commercial Institute. But in 1914 the First World War began, and Leonid went to the front as a driver. All his further professional activity was connected with cars: after the war, he worked as a mechanic, driver, head of a car depot. Some authors write that at one time he was the personal driver of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, but no documentary evidence of this has yet been found.
The Soviet government took almost all the property from the Kolesnikovs. True, Leonid Alekseevich was lucky: he was left with a house donated by his mother in Vsekhsvyatsky, which already in 1917 became part of Moscow (now it is the Sokol district). However, at the same time, the plot of land surrounding the house was reduced several times.
In 1919, the lilac period began in the life of 25-year-old Leonid Alekseevich: this year he planted his first lilac bush. And already four years later in his collection there were more than a hundred varieties and species of this shrub. Mostly it was the lilac selection of the famous French family nursery Lemoine. At that time, this was the best collection of lilacs in the entire Soviet Union. Now this varietal lilac can be easily purchased at the garden center, at the exhibition, market, online store or ordered by mail. And Leonid Alekseevich had to examine the territories of abandoned noble estates. Rescuing from oblivion, he dug up varietal lilac bushes and planted them on his plot, establishing the names of varieties according to descriptions in pre-revolutionary catalogs. Soon L.A. Kolesnikov started breeding lilacs. The first seedlings bloomed already in 1923. Among them, he singled out the two best, which later became the Pioneer and Dzhambul varieties. The latter is interesting in that it is the world's first lilac variety with white-edged petals.
At the end of 1939, Leonid Alekseevich was called up for 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 bushes of varietal lilacs, including those bred by Leonid Alekseevich between the two wars.
After the end of the war, he continued his work in the automotive field, and spent all his free time working in the garden, caring for, breeding lilac bushes and selecting this plant. He dedicated many varieties to the memory of the Great Patriotic War: Marshal Zhukov, Marshal Vasilevsky, General Vatutin, Alexander Matrosov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Lisa Chaikina, Polina Osipenko, Spring 1942, "Defenders of Brest", "Partizan", "Young Guards", "Victory Day" and others. Of particular interest among them are three varieties of lilacs dedicated to military pilots: "Aleksey Maresyev" with purple double flowers with a bluish tint, "Captain Gastello", also having purple double flowers, but with a purple tint, and "Valentina Grizodubova" with pink double flowers . The petals of all three of these profusely flowering varieties are curved like the blades of an airplane propeller, which makes them especially attractive and unique in their own way.
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 an international breeding masterpiece, the number one lilac in the world.
Sad L.A. Kolesnikov on Sokol has always (even during the war) been open to visitors. Here is one of the many responses. Its author is the writer A.N. Tolstoy: “You create beauty, Leonid Alekseevich - what an occupation 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".
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 the selection of 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 breeding of a large number of new varieties of lilacs” - 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 tells in detail about the agricultural technology of lilac and its reproduction, provides recommendations on breeding work with this beautiful decorative culture. In the same year, a decision was made to establish an experimental lilac breeding 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 it is the Northern Izmailovo district of Moscow).
Every spring, the Kaloshin nursery, as well as earlier in the garden on the Sokol, was visited by vandals, breaking off flowering lilacs and stealing the entire bushes. The construction of a sprawling 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 nursery was under the threat of extinction… Trying to save the main cause of his life, Leonid Alekseevich wrote letters to officials, went to the authorities, but eventually was sent to retire. However, he still defended the nursery, however, at the cost of his life: on January 28, 1968, L.A. Kolesnikov died of a heart attack and was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.
In 1973, the International Lilac Society awarded L.A. Kolesnikov "Golden Lilac Branch". And in 1975, the Kaloshin nursery was reorganized into the Lilac Garden, which still exists today (you will learn more about it in one of the next issues of the magazine).
Already after the death of Leonid Alekseevich, in the Kaloshin nursery, from the seedlings he received, the most beautiful, long-lasting and profusely blooming, having large (3 cm in diameter), pure white, double flowers, resembling miniature roses in shape and having a delicate aroma, was isolated. In 1974, this seedling became a 'Memory of Kolesnikov' cultivar.
Alexey Antsiferov, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences
How festively the garden blossomed lilac
Lilac, white.
Today is a special - lilac - day,
Beginning of blooming summer.
In a few days, the bushes undressed,
Newly opened leaves
In large and lush clusters of flowers,
In thick and wet brushes.
(S. Marshak)
It is hard to imagine May without blooming lilac bushes. They are in almost every garden or city park, because lilac gives us its fabulous flowering, turning into a plant that is stunning in its decorative effect.
Lilac has been growing in the Russian expanses for more than two centuries, it has long become dear and close to us, but the concept of "Russian lilac" appeared more than 70 years ago thanks to one amazing person - Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov(1893 - 1968). Many lilac lovers know the name of this wonderful breeder, who lived and created his magnificent lilac varieties in his garden in the village of Vsekhsvyatsky 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.
May 18 marked the 122th anniversary of his birth.Lilac "Beauty of Moscow"
How good are the lilac varieties created by Leonid Kolesnikov! Lilac was the main content of his life, his passion. Each flower of the Kolesnikov selection contains a piece of the soul of its creator.
For the first time, Kolesnikov saw bushes of varietal French lilacs in his father's family estate. In 1890, Leonid's father, the Ryazan tradesman A. S. Kolesnikov, acquired 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 will eventually become known to the whole world, was to be grown by his son, Leonid Alekseevich. At the age of 20, he, an officer of the Russian army, a graduate of the cadet corps, and then a commercial school, planted two bushes of high-quality French lilacs on the eve of the First World War.
Leonid Kolesnikov
After the revolution of 1917, the new government took away from the Kolesnikov family a house on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow, an apartment in St. Petersburg and an estate in Yalta. But for some reason, the site on Khodynka was left, although it was cut.
Leonid Alekseevich was in love with lilac... After the revolution, he worked for many years as a mechanic, and then as a driver. Once, on a weekday winter evening in the distant 1919, an incident happened to Leonid Alekseevich that turned his whole life upside down. He stood at the entrance of 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 lilac was not thrown out of the artist's house. The inquisitive driver took away the basket of flowers.
“How I looked after her,” Leonid Alekseevich wrote about this lilac in 1957, “what I watered and fed, it’s hard to remember now. But the lilac blossomed again ... From that moment on, I “fell ill” with lilacs. I began to bring bushes, cuttings, lilac seeds from everywhere, began to sow and plant them near my house, in the former wasteland. It is clear that I had no knowledge of floriculture - I planted it, as it seemed better. 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 naturalists.
An amazingly interesting life began ...
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. Thanks to Maria Nagibina (to whom he dedicated one of his varieties, alas, lost), Kolesnikov got acquainted with the works of Timiryazev and Michurin (the variety "I.V. Michurin" appeared in 1941, and "K.A. Timiryazev" - in 1955 ).
"Red Moscow"
1927 The lilac collection becomes the largest in the Soviet Union and includes about a hundred varieties. Crossing them, Leonid Alekseevich deduces new varieties.
"Banner of Lenin"
1938 The number of varieties bred by Kolesnikov and hitherto unseen in nature continues to grow. “What amazed Western lilac growers was that Leonid Alekseevich worked in complete isolation from other colleagues,” says Tatyana Polyakova, vice president of the International Lilac Society, author of the book “The History of Russian Lilac. In Memory of Kolesnikov” published in 2010. - American, French, British breeders - all closely communicated with each other, shared cuttings. He was alone, without professional education. But Kolesnikov had a rare gift to see the final result, looking at parental pairs. "
"Memory of Kirov"
In 1939 Kolesnikov was called up for the Finnish War. The breeder's wife, Olimpiada Nikolaevna, takes care of the garden, does not let many years of work go to waste. In 1940, at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition, she presented the varieties created by Leonid Alekseevich. The certificate of honor of the exhibition committee is the first public recognition of the breeder's achievements.
The return to peaceful life and the beloved lilac was short-lived - the Great Patriotic War again forces you to take up arms. Together with the war, trouble comes to the house, to the garden of the Kolesnikovs. 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 funnels, ruined bushes - dealt an irreparable blow to the mental health of Olympiad Kolesnikova. Until the end of her life, she never recovered from the experience. In December 1942, Kolesnikov was seriously wounded, after the hospital he was sent to serve in Moscow. Despite the hardships of wartime, personal problems, he finds minutes for his beloved lilac. The garden continues to improve. “Dream” already lives in it, beautiful, densely 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"
"Morning of Moscow"
"Vestal"
1943 At the end of May, the lilac garden is visited by Alexei Tolstoy. Enraptured by the extraordinary beauty, he writes: “You create beauty, Leonid Alekseevich - what an occupation 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, a note by Emelyan Yaroslavsky appears: “What could be more beautiful than love for nature, if it is associated with love for a person, 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 the soul, is appointed its director.
The lilac of Leonid Alekseevich Kolesnikov continued to win the hearts of people, conquer the world, but anxiety did not leave him - a new building came close to the house and its garden ...
Captain Gastello
India
Memory of Kolesnikov
The dawn of communism
Beauty of Moscow
(To be continued. )
Lilac photos from the nursery website
Many of those who admire the magnificent lilac bloom every May have never heard of Leonid Kolesnikov. But it is to this person, a talented self-taught breeder, that we owe the existence of several hundred (!) Lilac varieties. His biography, interesting and somewhat tragic, is the biography of a true genius of the Soviet era.
Leonid Alekseevich was born on May 18, 1893 in a wealthy merchant family. Leonid's father, an entrepreneur, an honorary citizen of Moscow, owned a house on Kuznetsky Most, had a house and 2.5 hectares of land in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye near Moscow (now the Moscow district of Sokol), as well as an estate in Yalta. Mother was the mistress of sewing workshops. It was at the house in Vsekhvyatsky that, after the birth of his son, the father planted a seedling of lilac of the Michel Buchner variety, created by the famous French breeder Victor Lemoine, which determined Leonid's love for life.
In 1913, Leonid graduated from a real school, a year later he entered the economic department of the Moscow Commercial Institute, where he studied until June 1916. This was followed by conscription into the army. During the First World War, Leonid Kolesnikov mastered the profession of a driver.
The lilac variety "India" bred by Kolesnikov.
After the October Revolution, almost everything they owned was taken away from the Kolesnikov family. They left only the house in Vsekhsvyatskoe, but the garden was cut from 2.5 hectares to 5 acres. It was here that Leonid began to create his garden - at the height of the Civil War, in 1919. He served in the Red Army as a driver and, driving around the country devastated by the war, he often found himself in the ruined noble estates and estates, where he found abandoned lilac bushes. He identified seedlings brought to Moscow from horticultural catalogs; Basically, he came across varieties of the French nursery Victor Lemoine and Son. Kolesnikov received some varieties from Russian botanical gardens. In a relatively short time, he managed to compile a very representative collection: in 1923, more than 100 varieties of lilacs grew in the garden in All Saints.
Photo: vsehsvyatskoye.livejournal.com
Despite such an interest in lilacs, Leonid Alekseevich never received an appropriate education and remained an amateur. He comprehended the basics of biology and agriculture on his own, then he met an employee of the Botanical Garden M.P. Nagibina, who helped him direct his knowledge and abilities to the path of selection and development of new varieties.
Kolesnikov managed to achieve truly incredible results in breeding. To breed and consolidate a new variety, you need at least 500 seedlings. The oldest French company Lemoine, over a hundred years of work and several generations of highly educated breeders, has developed 214 varieties on several dozen hectares of land and with the help of hundreds of gardeners and agricultural workers. And Kolesnikov - alone, without education and assistants, on 5 acres - three hundred! Yes, and in his spare time from work - after all, he continued to work as a driver at a motor depot.
The lilac variety "Alexey Maresyev" bred by Kolesnikov.
Photo: Andrey Korzun, Wikipedia
He never sold his seedlings - he only gave them away. He sent dozens of seedlings free of charge to botanical gardens, palaces of culture, youth clubs, factory and factory gardens. He wanted to turn the USSR into a country of lilacs. The names he gave to his varieties confirm this. "Red Moscow", "Great Victory", "Gastello", "Ivan Michurin", "The Path of Communism", "Marshal Zhukov", "Marshal Vasilevsky", "Banner of Communism", "Galina Ulanova", "Moscow Sky", " Dream", "Hope"... Kolesnikov also owns the authorship of an unsurpassed lilac, recognized as the most beautiful lilac in the world - a white-pink terry "Beauty of Moscow". The ex-president of the International Society of Lilac Breeders, Vice-President for the European Region, Colin Chapman (Great Britain) said about him: “If there is a lilac in paradise, then this is the “Beauty of Moscow”!”
Lilac variety "Beauty of Moscow".
Photo: Andrey Korzun, Wikipedia
The merits of Kolesnikov were even awarded the Stalin Prize with an unprecedented wording - "for breeding a large number of new varieties of lilacs."
But after Stalin's death, hard times came for Kolesnikov - Khrushchev disliked the laureate, the garden did not receive any support, it was squeezed by a ring of new buildings. The garden was subjected to constant raids by thieves, as a result, many unique varieties were irretrievably lost. Kolesnikov, who at that time was already over sixty, tried to resist this and as a result, during one of the attacks, he was hit with a knife, another time with a brick on the head.
The lilac variety "Galina Ulanova" bred by Kolesnikov.
Photo: Andrey Korzun, Wikipedia
Kolesnikov donated both the garden and all his selection developments to the state. It was decided to move the bushes from the garden to the nursery on Shchelkovskoye Highway (now Lilac Garden) and to the alley of Lilac Boulevard. However, the transplant itself was carried out hastily, at the expense of Kolesnikov himself (he spent the Stalin Prize on this). Nevertheless, the lilac still took root, but immediately after that, new buildings began to approach the nursery. To clear a place for construction, priceless bushes were broken by bulldozers. In 1968, Kolesnikov had a heart attack and died.
Of the three hundred varieties created by Kolesnikov, about 50 have survived. The lilac of Kolesnikov's selection grows in the park of Buckingham Palace in London (variety "Galina Ulanova"), the Royal Botanic Gardens (Hamilton, Canada), Holden Arbaritum and Arnold Arbaritum (USA), Tainitsky Garden of the Kremlin , it is included in the collections of syringaria in many botanical gardens of the world. Variety "Beauty of Moscow" in 1973 in the city of Boston (USA) was awarded the high award of the International Union of Lilac Breeders "Golden Lilac Branch".
