Lilac page last edited Sunday, December 21, 2008 12:08 PM, article follows pictures.

If the pictures dont open go to www.floweringshrubfarm.com/lilacs.htm

Go to my Lilac catalog for more pictures. I specialize in growing lilacs that have purple, red purple, magenta and similar flowers. I have a few white flowering varieties, a couple pink flowering and one blue flowering variety that I like as well.

How do you get rid of a lilac?

The best way is to cut it to the ground in late spring, summer or fall. Then prepare the spot so you can mow it for the next several years at least.

'Andenken an Ludwig Spaeth'

Best time to prune or transplant a lilac?

If you dont need flowers this year the best time to prune is late winter to early spring. I grow quite a few lilacs and every spring, as soon as the soil can be worked (before they leaf out) I transplant 10 or so of each crop we have growing that flowered in the previous year, into 7 gallon pots. At the same time lilacs we see that have fewer than 3 stems are cut back to the ground. They will grow again to flower with many more upright stems within 3 years. All the plants we grow (Old Roses, Lilacs, Native Azalea and Rhododendrons), produce much more growth if you cut off this years flowers. If you leave the flowers growth rates can be reduced by 75%. So grow many lilacs in groups by color, pruning one back to the ground every once in a while.

On plants you plan to let flower remove the largest stems (more than 2 or 3 inches in diameter) to the ground training younger suckering stems to replace them. Usually these lilacs have more than 30 stems but several of them are large. I remove just the large ones to the ground and fertilize with a mulch of composted manure.

lilac+inches+year+grow or how fast a lilac will grow. Syringa vulgaris in a fertile well drained soil, full sun and adequate moisture can easily grow a couple feet per year if the seed pods are removed. If the seed pods are not removed it has been my experience that our lilacs will display only three or four inches of tip growth.

My best advice to a lilac buyer is "Buyer Beware!" only buy them in bloom.

B.

Lilacs bloomed locally in 2003 as follows;

S. vulgaris: began May 12 and then went for 4 weeks due to a cool spring.

S. microphyla superba: began May 25

S. meyeri and S. prestoniae: began May 29

Syringa prestoniae usually blooms til mid June and then produces one or two flowers in August or September.

S. prestoniae 'Miss Canada'.

C.

Classification.

The oldest Lilacs in America today were probably planted by Jesuit missionaries in or around the 1650's.

Lilacs have been classified by 7 classes of color.

White, Lavender (original color of S. vulgaris), Blue, Violet, Pink, Magenta and Purple.

Normal length of bloom if you are growing all the species in one garden is about 4 to 6 weeks unless affected by undue warmth prior to flowering. I like to grow Lilacs, Old Roses and Disease Resistant Modern Roses together in one garden. Something is always in bloom. I dont remove the faded flowers on the recurrent blooming roses until mid summer (and then I remove the hips with a 12 inch hedge pruner). The recurrent blooming roses respond by coming back into bloom in August and September all together.

The longest blooming species is Syringa vulgaris or S. vulgaris, particular varieties of which may be classed for bloom time early, midseason or late.

S. vulgaris is also known for its strong and pleasing scent although not all varieties are scented.

The chinese Lilacs are strongly scented although usually with a cinnamon blend.

S. vulgaris is a native of the Balkans, Yugoslavia, Serbia and Southeastern Europe.

Only purple and white forms were known before 1800.

It is only recently that lilac flowers have possessed 'substance', in other words a resistance to fading.

C. Short History

From 1878 to 1950 Victor Lemoine studiously worked on the hybridization of Lilacs.

'Azurea plena' (a double) was used by him as the basis of his breeding program.

Together Mr and Mrs. Lemoine and their son produced a large number of double flowered lilacs that to this day are referred to as French Lilacs.

French Lilac (see the double flowers?) 'President Poincaire'

In 1909 Frank Meyer found in chinese gardens a Lilac that has never been found in the wild.

It was named S. meyeri. Its mature height is 5 feet with upright branches.

If the season is favorable S. meyeri has been seen to bloom again in early Autumn.

The veins of the leaves paralleling the margins can help tell it apart from the other dwarf species.

In 1915 he found S. laciniata in Gansu, China (the Persian Lilac is thought to be a hybrid of S. laciniata).

At maturity the Persian Lilac is 12 feet tall bearing both full and cut leaves on the same stem.

The flowers are borne in many small pale lavender clusters all along the branches.

In 1895 S. patula was found near Seoul, Korea.

Later in 1947 Professor Meader collected seed of S. patula in the Pouk Han Mountains in Korea which became 'Miss Kim'.

'Miss Kim' has dark green leaves with wavy margins, mildew resistant, burgundy Autumn color, blooming after S. prestoniae 'James Macfarlane'.

The original Miss Kim now more than 30 years old is 10 feet high and 15 feet wide and can be found at the University of New Hampshire.

In 1896 S. microphylla was found in Shaanxi Sheng (Shensi Province), China.

In Gansu Province it was called Tze ki ting siang or the four season lilac because it was said to flower all year although it actually blooms in spring and fall with intermittent blooms all summer only in extremely favorable conditions. Grows slowly to 8 feet.

In 1901 a plant hunter noted that S. reflexa had 12 inch long , erect, nodding or hanging down clusters of flowers inhabiting the mountains of Hupeh in central China. The buds were bright red opening to rose colored flowers in June. It grew 8-12 feet tall and had lance shaped leaves. It seemed to prefer well drained, gravely loam.

Forests of S. villosa were seen by a Russian botanist while traveling to Beijing through Mongolia. Natives called it Ting hiang or "the fragrance of cloves". It had pink flowers and grew to 12 feet tall and wide. A hedge of S. villosa grown since 1911 in Ottawa, Canada was noted in 1927 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. In a smaller garden this would be absurd but could be used trained as a tree to 4 or 5 stems with the lower side branches removed.

D. Culture of Lilacs.

In 1920 S. villosa was crossed with S reflexa in Ottawa, Canada to produce the Preston Hybrids. Blooming a week after S. vulgaris they are almost tree size and pink flowering. They often bloom when quite young and so might be considered for being in a pot on the patio when only 2 or 3 feet tall. Pruned to 3 or 5 trunks and having removed small lower branches they form a very nice low spreading tree. My choices are 'James Macfarlane' and 'Miss Canada'.

The top roots of lilacs known as the feeding roots are more important in transplanting than the larger anchoring roots.

At Azalea House we start transplanting Lilacs into 5 and 7 gallon pots as soon as the soil can be worked (usually March and April). Its important to transplant before they leaf out or your likely to lose this years flowers.

Generally Lilacs are cool season plants growing best in zones 4, 5 and 6 though many are hardy to zone 3. S. microphylla because it doesn't require a dormant period, might do well in warmer climates. Check with your local Agricultural Department for varieties that have proven themselves in your area.

Cold winds have been known to damage the flower buds of Lilacs.

Plants mulched with straw in a gravel sand bed and watered regularly can produce fantastic root growth. I transplant lilacs grown into quart or gallon pots to a 3 gallon pot of sand under drip line. After two years of growing among the weeds I transplant into 7 gallon pots for sale at our plant sale.

For a shrub prune by removing only the oldest canes to the ground leaving the plant to renew itself with strong young canes every 4 years. I remove the oldest stem to the ground every year ( one only).

Sunlight, drainage, pruning, mulch, a couple handfuls of ground limestone every 3rd year and your lilac should do great.

E.

Lilac Blight is probably the most serious disease a Lilac can get. It is not very common in the eastern US and Canada. New foliage is seen to turn brown and wilt. Prune out stems to provide better circulation of air through the plant. Sterilize pruning tools with bleach. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers. Apply a 2-2-50 Bordeaux mixture. Burn affected parts that have been removed. Lilac should be fine the following year. I usually see this only in areas where there hasn't been enough sun combined with overcrowding. Lilacs are forgiving plants and may be crowded in areas with enough sun.

Mildew will not harm your Lilac (though it will reduce the growth rate) but if you wish to be rid of it 3 pounds of wettable sulpher to 100 gallons of water applied at 3 week intervals.

Scale is the worst insect pest of Lilacs. Scale is constantly being introduced into gardens either windblown or on birds so it s important to watch for it. The insect lives under a shell that looks very much like an oyster shell. Infestations often occur when plantings are neglected or after the addition of fresh cow manure. So remove weeds, add mulch and fertilize only with well rotted and composted manure. In the past Diazinon, Malathion and Ethion in Oil has been used in late May. If large infestations occur (cottony mass) lilac canes may be removed to the ground and burned. Clean up the area well. Your Lilac will regrow and flower after several years. We allow the weeds to grow but drive through the area when mowing on a tractor. When I see evidence of insect pests I either remove the insect by hand or cut out the affected stems and burn them. When we move them to the plant sale I spray them with organic insecticides.

Lilac borers tunnel under the bark and into the wood, girdling stems and causing leaves to wilt. The white caterpiller is about 3/4 of an inch long. A clear winged moth emerging in spring lays its eggs on wounded places in the bark. At Azalea House, I examine the stems of my lilacs in March and April before leaves emerge. Stems that are larger than 2 inches in diameter are removed (to the ground) and burned. I look for sawdust throughout the year at the base and upon finding the holes they have drilled I insert a straightened paper clip, mashing them in the tunnel. I am careful not to damage stems which would give the worm access.

Lilac Leafminer mines and rolls the leaves. Bushes may apear as if they are scorched. Remove rolled leaves and burn them.

We keep a chimenea on our patio and its perfect for burning the cut up prunings. A larger fireplace may be necessary when you have larger plantings.

Leafminers hatch from their eggs in september, dropping to the ground in order to make cells in the ground to overwinter in.

Oystershell scale is called that because the shell that covers the insect look like miniature oysters about 1/8 of an inch long colored black to ash gray. The scales overwinter in the eggstage (white to yellow in color) attached to twigs. One generation per year devitalizes the plant by sucking its juices. I scrape the scale off the stems with a stick and burn them. A dormant oil can be aplied before the plants bud, smothering the scale.

The Systemic alternative.

A number of systemic insecticides are offered that deal with the sucking, chewing and boring insects that damage our flowering trees and shrubs. A systemic insecticide is absorbed through the plants roots making the tissues poisonous to any insect that sucks, chews or bores (sort of similar to the way chemotherapy makes our tissues unpalatable to cancer cells). Some of these include a granular fertilizer so you can protect your plants from sucking, chewing or boring insects while feeding at the same time. Most systemics I have seen this year use di-syston as the active ingredient (only 2% is needed). An application usually has to be reapplied every 6 weeks.

I dont use systemics except as a last resort.. I didn't use them in 2005 or 2006.

I would suggest that you dont use systemics on food crops as di-syston is poisonous to animals and humans too.

I'm Andrew Van Cleve, chief grower at Azalea House Flowering Shrub Farm, and I grow flowering shrubs without fungicide to reveal truly disease resistant plants. I am providing time honored, proven shrubs that are disease resistant locally (I operate my operation as a niche market, in other words I propagate plants that most places wont have, we dont grow plants that our competitors have but plants that are hard to find locally, easy to propagate and generally tolerant of local conditions).

Home Lists of Plants we grow Email me

Check my Repro handbook where I take notes on when to take cuttings listed alphabetically by Genus.

Check my Propagation page where I write about the different kinds of cuttings and the process of preparing them to root.

Check my grafting page where I write about how I use grafting.