Are you looking for a hardy plant that can thrive in any garden? Look no further than lilacs!
With just a little care, these stunning plants can add beauty and fragrance to any space. Now is the perfect time to select your lilacs to be delivered in time for fall planting.
Simple Requirements for Lilacs
Lilacs have simple requirements, making them an easy addition to any garden. They need:
- A sunny location
- Good soil that is well-drained and not acidic
You can have lilacs if you have an unshaded area in your garden that gets plenty of sun. If your soil is acidic, mix in some lime when you plant.
If your soil is poor, adding rotted manure, bone meal, or other fertilizers can improve its quality. And if your drainage needs improvement, dig a hole extra big and extra deep, and fill the bottom with sand, gravel, or cinders.
Give Your Lilacs Room to Grow
It’s important not to crowd your lilacs. Give each plant 10 feet of space to thrive without competition from its neighbors.
If you only have room for one lilac, don’t worry – you don’t need multiple plants to enjoy blossoms.
One lilac, planted alone, will bloom just as well as if it were surrounded by a dozen others.
When Will Your Lilacs Bloom?
The answer depends on the age of the plant you buy and the variety you select. Strong growers naturally bloom sooner.
If you choose your lilacs from a nearby nursery, you can have them delivered with a ball of earth, allowing you to choose larger and older plants than those practical to ship by parcel post or express with bare roots.
If the plants have big, fat winter buds on the top branches, they will likely bloom next spring.
Most plants are ready to bloom between four to six years old, with most four-year-olds being flowering plants in the nursery rows. However, keep in mind that the finest blooms are not typically found on small plants.
How to Care for Your Lilacs and Keep Them Blooming
Lilacs are a beautiful addition to any garden, and with proper care, they can bloom for years to come. Here are some tips to help you care for your lilacs and keep them healthy and vibrant.
Blossom Size and Number
Did you know that lilac blossoms can continue to increase in size and number up to the age of ten years? By then, your lilac plant should be giving you its best blooms.
Grafted vs. Own-Root Plants
There is much debate regarding the desirability of grafted lilacs versus own-root plants. However, it is generally agreed that own-root plants grown from cuttings can be just as excellent as grafted lilacs.
Planting Your Lilacs
If you obtain plants with a ball of earth, planting is simple. When moving the plant, remember to prevent the weight from injuring the roots by lifting the plant by the root ball, not by the top.
Set the plant so that it is 3″ or 4″ inches deeper than it stood in the nursery, loosen and roll down the burlap around the ball, and water as required to keep the ground moist until cold weather sets in.
If your plants come with bare roots, unpack them as soon as they arrive, remove the moss from around the roots, and if the roots are not moist, soak them for half an hour in a bucket of water.
In good garden soil, a hole just broad enough to provide room for the roots when spread out and deep enough so that the plant will be 3″ or 4 inches lower than at the nursery is sufficient.
If the ground is hard or clayey, dig a hole twice as large and twice as deep as the root spread and discard the soil.
Have a supply of good earth ready and fill half the hole with it. Place the plant in the hole, spread the roots gently, place a few shovels of earth in the hole and work it around the roots with your hands.
Add a few more shovels of soil and tamp down firmly. Fill the balance of the hole with water, and when it has drained away, add loose soil to ground level.
A hay or straw mulch 3″ or 4″ inches deep in extreme climates is advisable for the first winter.
Pruning Your Lilacs
Young lilacs require little pruning the first few years; all that is needed is to cut off the blooms after they have faded and remove dead branches.
When the plants have reached a desirable height, annual pruning is necessary to keep them from growing taller and becoming “leggy.”
Remember that you will lose the blossoms from the pruned branch the following season whenever you prune.
Insects and Diseases
Lilacs are not subject to damage from many insects or diseases. However, watch for scale, which appears as clusters of tiny, round, hard-shelled bisects on the branches or main stems.
Spray with an oil preparation when the plants are dormant. In the summer, watch for borers, which dig into the wood and produce sawdust around the base of the plant.
Find the hole where the borer entered and either dig out the culprit with a piece of wire or use a chemical preparation.
A Guide to Modern Lilacs: Colors, Sizes, and Forms
Modern lilacs come in vast colors, sizes, and forms, allowing you to pick the perfect one to suit your taste and garden.
Here’s a guide to some popular varieties:
White Lilacs
- Vestale (single): Very free-flowering with large florets and heavy trusses.
- Monument (single): At its best, the finest of all whites with a very large, tall, erect, and perfect form.
- Ellen Willmott (double): Truly all-white with a tiny white petal that covers and conceals the yellow center of each floret.
Blue Lilacs
- President Lincoln (single): Clearest blue of any lilac and a strong, sturdy grower.
- Olivier de Serres (double): Pink buds and blue flowers make a handsome two-color effect.
Pink Lilacs
- Macrostachya (single): Pale pink with upright, medium-sized spikes in profusion on a bushy plant that does not become over-tall and leggy.
- Mme. Antoine Buchner (double): Large, broad-based trusses of dainty, lacy double and triple rosettes; one of the few lilacs that naturally forms a beautifully shaped shrub and does not sucker from the roots.
Reddish Purple Lilacs
- Capitaine Baltet (single): Bold in color with large trusses that often bend far down by the weight of the florets.
- Glory (single): Largest of all with spikes often a foot long and florets that cover a half-dollar.
- Paul Thirion (double): Large trusses of very red buds that open to large flowers of a lighter hue.
Deep Purple Lilacs
- Monge (single): A most dependable bloomer with large spikes, large flowers, and rich color; tends to grow bushy rather than tall.
- Night (single): Darkest lilac available; blooms late, after Monge.
- Adelaide Dunbar (double): Slender, good-sized erect spikes of deep maroon on a slender-growing shrub.
By choosing the right variety, with just a little care and attention, you can enjoy the lovely fragrance and stunning blossoms of lilacs in your garden.
Start planning and planting your lilac garden today!