Sarmite Strautina

Since 1986, Sarmīte Strautiņa, Doctor of Biological Sciences and leading researcher at the Institute of Horticulture, has been engaged in lilac breeding at the Latvian State Fruit Growing Institute (now the Institute of Horticulture).

S. Strautiņa's main areas of activity include the evaluation and selection of raspberry, bush berry and lilac varieties, research into growing technologies, as well as the evaluation and description of berry crop genetic resources, the creation and maintenance of collections. As a result of S. Strautiņa's work, nine P. Upītis lilacs have been registered in Canada, in the International Register and Checklist of Cultivar Names in the Genus Syringa L.

The first lilac collection plantation was established in 1986, but the lilac park began in 1996. By supplementing the collection of P. Upītis varieties with foreign varieties and several dozen new varieties and hybrids by breeder Laimonis Kārkliņš (1923-2005), the largest lilac collection in the Baltic States and one of the largest in Europe has been created!