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Transplanting Lilac Shoots To plant your freshly dug lilac sucker in the ground, dig a hole deep enough, loosen up the soil some by digging around with your shovel. Place your lilac sucker or shoot into the hole and fill back with the loose soil. Gently firm it in with your foot. Water it in well.
- As soon as you get the plant, if it is “bare root” (not in soil), soak the roots in a pail of water for a few hours. …
- Dig a hole deep enough to just cover the roots and wide enough so you can spread roots horizontally.
Here’s the first rule of planting: lilacs need lots of space to grow. If you’re planting a hedge, they’ll need a spot at least seven to eight feet wide and ten feet wide for a shrub. They also need at least six hours of sun a day to have excellent flowering. Provide a well-drained, alkaline soil.
Planting Lilacs Their scented blooms alone can fill a room with nostalgia, romance and sentimentality. Lilacs can live up to 75 years, so planting one is an investment for the next generation as well.
Where to Plant Lilacs. The ideal spot to plant lilacs is in an area with full sun (at least 6 to 8 hours per day)—give them too much shade and they may not bloom. Lilacs also like slightly alkaline, moist, well-drained soil.
The lilac is a deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub with an irregular, rounded outline. It is fast growing when young, but slows to about one foot a year with age.
The best time to plant lilacs is in the fall after the leaves have dropped, but before the ground freezes. You can plant lilacs in the spring before the buds start to unfold. Spring periods are very short, however, and transplanting at this time is recommended only in areas where winters are very severe.
Grass clippings and coffee grounds can be used as a good source of nitrogen. Use sparingly, as too much nitrogen in the soil will result in poor blooms. Lilacs grow best in slightly alkaline (6.5 to 7.0 pH), moist, well-drained soil. Adding bone meal to the soil can make it more alkaline.
Since lilacs prefer good drainage, planting lilac bushes in slightly elevated areas is recommended whenever possible. Following planting lilac bushes, water them thoroughly and add a layer of loose mulch. Keep the mulch thick enough to keep out weeds and retain some moisture but light enough not to hold too much.
Lilac hedges, with their colorful, often fragrant blooms, provide privacy and beautify the landscape. Plant them as a screen, barrier, property line marker or garden room divider or backdrop.
Lilacs are hardy, easy to grow, and low maintenance. They can grow from 5 to 15 feet tall, depending on the variety. The fragrant flowers are good for cutting and attractive to butterflies.
Many factors influence how long California lilacs will live. When these plants get proper pruning to remove older shoots, they can often survive for closer to 15 years. Without adequate pruning, California lilacs may live for around 10 years.
Lilacs require full sunlight to flower properly. They must be planted where they will get six hours of light per day. Also, they do not appreciate being planted near other trees, which could hinder their development.
Do lilacs transplant well? The lilac shoots do. You can dig them out and replant them, and odds are good that they will thrive and grow in a new location. It is also possible to move an entire mature plant, but only if necessary.
A dying lilac bush may appear weak or yield only a few spring blooms. This is commonly caused by overgrowth and poor plant nutrition, which may be remedied with heavy pruning and steps to ensure the soil contains vital nutrients.
Root System on Lilac Lilac roots aren’t considered invasive and as long as you leave enough space between the tree, or shrub, and the structure, there is little risk from planting lilacs near foundations. Lilac roots generally spread one and one-half times the width of the shrub. A distance of 12 feet (4 m.)
The lilac usually considered the most fragrant is a Chinese native—S. pubescens. It has small, white flowers tinged with purple.
Lilac bushes will typically flower without any effort from you. However, if left to grow and spread on their own, common lilacs will eventually only flower on the tops of the uppermost branches.
Propagating lilac bushes from cuttings is tricky, but definitely not impossible. Take cuttings of lilac bushes from tender new growth in late spring or early summer. Mature growth is less likely to root. Take several cuttings to increase your chance of success.
Lilacs do not contain any chemicals that will poison animals or humans, nor do they irritate the skin. Even though lilac stems, leaves, and flowers pose no health threat to dogs, it is a good idea to keep your dog from chewing on the plant.
Lilacs symbolize spring and renewal, but they had other meanings in different cultures. The Celtics saw lilacs as magical, and they symbolized old love in the Victorian age. … White lilacs represent purity and innocence, while purple lilacs symbolize spirituality. Magenta lilacs symbolize love and passion.
Most lilacs don’t require pruning until they reach about 6 to 8 feet (2-2.5 m.) tall. The best time for pruning lilac bushes is right after their flowering has ceased. This allows new shoots plenty of time to develop the next season of blooms.
To clear up any confusion, there is no difference between a lilac bush and a lilac tree, they are the same plant just called by different names. … Some lilacs flower two weeks earlier, including Syringa x hyacinthiflora varieties and these are often referred to as early flowering lilacs.
- Apply a good layer of mulch every year to retain moisture and control weeds.
- Wait until the top becomes thoroughly dry and then water the common lilac trees well.
- Fertilize lilacs very sparingly. …
- Pruning lilacs correctly tops the list of to-dos when it comes to taking care of lilacs.
Lilac bushes prefer neutral to alkaline soil. … Eggshells can be added to the soil anytime. Pulverize them and sprinkle them around your lilac bushes, gently turning them into the top few inches of your soil. Take care not to damage any roots and water thoroughly to help leech the eggshells into the soil.
Watering your lilac plant is recommended once every 10 to 14 days from from spring until blooming ends. Lilacs respond best to deep, infrequent watering. Make sure that your planting area or container drains well. These plants do not like wet feet and will not bloom if over watered.
Organic Lilac Food Grass clippings and coffee grounds are a good source of nitrogen, but use them sparingly in compost. Banana peels offer potassium to the soil.
- Mock orange.
- Flowering crabapples.
- Dogwoods.
- Flowering cherries.
- Magnolias.
Lilacs are pollinated through both biotic and abiotic means. … Lilacs can be self-pollinated when the plant contains both male and female flowers. If it is near another lilac bush, then it also can be cross-pollinated, which means the pollen sac from one plant lands on the stigma of a flower from another plant.
It blooms lovely, richly scented, single white flowers that pair well with its light blue-green foliage. The Common White lilac is very similar to the Common Purple lilac, making it an excellent informal screen or hedge in the landscape.
Lilacs Winter Care Tips Give your lilac a good watering to ensure the shrub is hydrated before winter starts. Use 3 to 4 inches of organic mulch around the base of your lilac to prevent winter heave, the exposure of roots due to the ground freezing and thawing. Deadhead and prune the plant in late spring.
Bloomerang Purple lilac is the original reblooming lilac. It blooms in spring along with other lilacs, takes a brief rest to put on new growth, then blooms again from mid-summer through fall. … It doesn’t only bloom once in spring – it also blooms summer through fall.
Removing the dead flowers from your lilac bush will encourage more blooms the following year. The important thing when trimming off your flowers is that you simply cut off the spent flowers—don’t worry about any surrounding stems. … To deadhead lilacs, simply snip the dead flower, leaving the stem and leaves in place.
Pick flowers in the cool of the morning or evening. Lilacs open very little after harvest, so choose stems that have at least three-quarters of the flowers open. Next, remove all of the leaves so the plant isn’t putting its effort into keeping the leaves hydrated.
As a general rule for all lilacs, they should be pruned immediately after they’re done flowering in the spring. Since lilacs set next year’s flower buds right after the current year’s flowers have faded, pruning later in the summer or fall will result in cutting off many or all of next year’s flowers.
Let your lilac bask in the sun and it will be happy! Lilac plants prefer full sun and need at least 6 hours of it a day to grow well. When choosing a place to plant your lilac, make sure it is somewhere with enough sun. While lilac bushes need room to grow, but they can grow in a garden setting as well.
Most lilac bushes produce blooms every year but improper pruning can result in a lack of blooms the following year. The buds for the following year’s blooms are set soon after the bush is finished blooming so timing is very important when it comes to properly pruning lilac bushes.
This lilac tree blooms twice a year, filling the air with the aroma of its deep purple-lilac, star-like flowers. After an initial stunning show in spring, Bloomerang lilacs take a rest until late summer, when they rebloom until the first frost.
These plants can bloom gorgeous white, pink or lavender clusters and reach a height of 8-15 ft. Lilac growth can range from 12-24 inches yearly; depending your growing environment and conditions.