The lilacs are popular mainly because of their flowers. These not only look great, they also spread a bewitching scent. The flowering time is mostly in May. Some varieties bloom a little earlier, some a little later. The flower colors range from bright white, through light yellow and light purple, to dark purple and purple-red. There are now also two-tone flowers. Double flowers are particularly beautiful.
Lilac is a frugal plant and does not need a lot of care. It hardly makes any demands on the location and maintenance. Even those new to the garden will get along with the lilac. It is only important that lilacs are cut exactly. However, a cut is not absolutely necessary. You can also simply let the staruch or the tree grow. Lilac is quite fast growing. However, the vigor depends on the location and the care, mainly on the water. With an optimal location, the annual growth is 30 to 50 cm.
Table of Contents
location
The lilac makes no great demands on its location. The wood should not be too shady, then the flowers cannot develop.
- The best location is sunny, but also no shade is tolerated.
- Tolerates heat and urban climate.
- A sheltered place makes sense, then the scent is not blown away.
Plant substrate
The lilac does not make any special demands on the soil, as long as it is not too wet. The trees cannot tolerate constantly wet feet, but that is the case with a lot of people.
- Prefers moderately dry to fresh, nutrient-rich, sandy, humus soil
- Also thrives on well-drained, summer-warm and summer-dry clay soils
- Lilac loves calcareous soils.
- Permanently wet soil is not tolerated.
- Improve very sandy soils with compost!
- PH value slightly acidic to alkaline
plant
Planting a lilac is not difficult. It doesn’t take a lot of skill.
- The planting hole should be twice as large as the ball of the pot.
- Mix soil with compost or garden soil.
- Do not use pure peat!
- Plant lilacs as deep as they were in the pot before.
- Choose the planting distance to buildings as large as possible. Lilac trees have very strong roots. Roots can grow through house walls.
- Lilac does not like to stand alone, rather in association with similar plants.
- Fill the planting hole and step on the soil well!
- Don’t forget to pour on!
- When planting noble lilacs, make sure that the grafting point is underground.
- If you want to move your lilacs, you should do so in spring, in March or April. However, flowering will fail this year.
Watering and fertilizing
Lilacs tolerate dryness much better than wetness. It doesn’t need a lot of water, except for the first year after planting. You have to water at the latest when the leaves begin to become limp.
- Watering only necessary if it is long-term dry!
- In order to promote flowering, fertilizers are made with an emphasis on phosphorus. The fertilizer must be applied in early spring.
- Organic manure and compost can also be used.
- It is important not to use too much nitrogen fertilizer. This leads to growth in length, but hardly any flowers form. The strength is needed for growth.
- A layer of mulch is ideal. This ensures a balanced root temperature and prevents excessive evaporation from the soil.
To cut
Actually, lilacs shouldn’t be cut. Many spring bloomers are cut right after they bloom. However, lilacs develop new flower stems while they are in bloom. When making a cut, these are removed. You only cut when it is absolutely necessary and then in such a way that the cutting measures are not noticeable.
- Lilac can be cut if need be, for example if it just got too big.
- You can cut into the old wood.
- However, it takes two to three years for the lilac to look like something again.
- A radical cut should only be a stopgap solution.
- Remove dead flowers about a week after they have bloomed. This ensures that the lilac does not invest its strength in the formation of seeds.
- Taper cut every three years if you want. Put the oldest third of all branches that are thicker than 4 cm back to about 30 to 40 cm.
- Make radical cuts only in winter!
Overwinter
Lilacs are sufficiently hardy. You don’t need winter protection.
Multiplication
The easiest way to propagate is to let the lilac do the work itself. This often forms shoots around the trunk after flowering. Most gardeners leave the saplings standing, as this makes the shrub look more compact and dense. However, the shoots can also be dug up at the end of summer. Usually they have developed enough roots to be able to exist on their own. You just plant them where you want them to be. If there are not enough roots, simply let the sapling take root in water.
- Otherwise you can propagate lilacs by seeds, cuttings, root runners and by grafting with noble varieties.
- Cut cuttings in June after flowering. This type of propagation doesn’t always work well.
- When lowering, a branch is bent down to the ground and tied. It is covered with earth. Roots can form on the branch underground for months.
Diseases and pests
The lilac is not very susceptible to diseases and pests. Sometimes a plant is attacked by the lilac moth. This can be recognized by the irregular brown, partially dried spots, which are caused by brown caterpillars. One disease that can occur is vertilium wilt, a fungal disease. The water pipes are affected. In both cases, only chemical agents help and, ideally, a change of location.
When the lilacs don’t bloom
When you plant a lilac, it usually takes a while for it to settle in properly in the garden. It rarely blooms in the following year. It usually takes one, sometimes two years to bloom for the first time. But then you can see that the bloom turns out to be more splendid every year. If the lilac does not bloom, it can have various causes.
- Incorrect pruning – If the branches are shortened, the flower systems are also cut off. These are at the end.
- Incorrect cultivation conditions – if there is too little sun and too little moisture in spring, flowering can fail.
- Weather conditions – too humid summers, especially late summers, make lilacs keep growing. They do not mature and do not create flower buds, or they freeze away in winter.
- Over- fertilization – leads to shoot growth, the lilac becomes blooming
- Young lilacs are sometimes just lazy to flower.
- Late frost – in early flowering varieties, frost can prevent flowering.
Tips for cutting lilac flowers for the vase
- If possible, cut early in the morning!
- Remove all leaves from the flower stem! Stick in leaf branches separately!
- Cut the stems fresh with a very sharp knife.
- Carefully tap the stems flat with a hammer!
Particularly beautiful varieties
There are beautiful varieties of lilac. New ones are constantly coming onto the market, mostly hybrids. However, the colors do not always match those with which they are advertised. For example, I bought a supposedly yellow lilac, which unfortunately only blooms white.
- ‘Beauty of Moscow®’ – white flowers, closed flowers in pink, great contrast and strong fragrance, new breed
- ‘Charles Joly’ – noble lilac with purple to purple double flowers, very profuse flowering, one of the most popular hybrids
- ‘Purple Wonder®’ – two-tone lilac hybrid, delicate purple petals with a white border, something very special
- ‘Sensation’ – two-tone variety, purple-colored petals with a white border, very exclusive variety
- ‘Primrose’ – the only yellowish variety, creamy yellow single flowers that turn white when they fade
- ‘Professor Hoser’ – purple-colored buds that open in light blue flowers, simple flowers
- ‘Taras Bulba’ – flowers double lavender, sometimes shimmering pink, very large buds and flowers
Conclusion
Lilac is an asset to every garden. Although the flower is relatively short, this ornamental wood is an essential part of it. The flower with its great colors and the strong scent should not be missing. Lilac is undemanding and easy to care for. If he gets enough sun, he can develop well.