Sunday, April 19, 2015

Le lilas

Our lilac bush is flowering now. We're in an "on" year for this variety that flowers only every other year. I've read that lilacs normally flower every year, but that in alternating years the flowers are more abundant (our apple trees do that with apples). But this lilac actually takes every second year off with no blossoms at all. Last year was a bare year, so it's nice to see the flowers again this spring.

Purple lilac flowers just starting to open last week.

Lilacs are abundant around here, and most of them do flower every year, from what I've seen. Friends of ours recently removed some aging and overgrown plants from part of their yard and I mooched some of the root stock from them. They told me that they had to be careful to remove it all or it would easily come back. Hearing that, I asked if I could take some of the roots home and try to get them to grow in our yard. I came back with four bunches of roots, each with a budding stem attached. I planted them a few weeks ago and now one of them is covered with new leaf buds. I'm still waiting on the others with fingers crossed.

11 comments:

  1. That's a lovely shot. I love lilac. I didn't realize about having a year off either until after I planted some varieties. I have a white lilac which only flowers every other year but all of my others flower every year. Like yours, the white one is flowering this year.

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  2. We had a lilac. It flowered every year. I wonder if it might be climatic difference. The lilac roots would not be a root stock with the lilacs grown on the root stock?

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  3. Lilacs in flower - time to plant potatoes! Pauline

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  4. I love lilac. We used to have one with a lovely shade of purple and a wonderful fragrance, but the Winter got to it one year. Thanks for reminding me to go in search of that fragrance... :)

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  5. I have a Southern sort of lilac which I love. Looking forward to seeing your new lilacs in a few years.

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  6. Walt,
    I love lilacs but I don't have any! Wow, what am I missing here? I have to get some. Yours are lovely.
    Ron

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  7. Lovely photo. Lilacs smell so wonderful. Their scent evokes springtime for me like nothing else.

    You are way ahead of us!

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  8. Lilacs are another thing I miss in this climate. We had a huge, old bush in Connecticut that I absolutely loved.

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  9. Usually in the midwest the lilacs bloom in May, so I associate them to that month. They are lovely, no matter when.

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  10. craig, there are purple and white ones around here, but I've not seen that very pale blue that I remember from the US northeast where I grew up.

    andrew, not in this case. They're just the roots, dug up with the stem.

    pauline, or buy them from the store. ;)

    rex, they do smell good!

    evelyn, me too!

    ron, they should grow in your climate, unless the hot summers are too long...

    carolyn, we seem to have got a head start this year.

    mitch, my grandmother had one outside her back door when I was a kid. It was amazing in spring.

    michael, I remember them around easter, but probably when easter was later rather than earlier.

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  11. Ah lilacs.... One of the first plants in my Berkeley home. I should see if I could plant one in my community lot. Yours is lovely.

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