WE have grown many different lilac species since buying our farm 50 yrs ago but only the one that was growing"wild" on northwest corner of our 150 yr old farmhouse is still surviving on its own. This is also the one that grew wild on the corner of the barn where I was born. If you see this beautiful fragrant purple flower in some abandoned neglected corner it is probably this same lilac(syringa vulgaris) that we call our WILD FARMHOUSE lilac. Its highly perfumed flower can quickly mask a  "smelly" shoebox or a teenager's closet. We use this lilacs extensive root system to stabilise eroding depleted soils. There are many other uses (see internet) for this venerable old species. Try one of these tough hardy, carefree shrubs.