We know many of you are keen on gardening, so here's your latest plot: dug over, weed free and ready to sow the seeds of new ideas...
10 Johnson's Blue geraniums and 2 Katherine Havemeyer lilac trees!
Enjoy - I adore the smell when the lilac blossoms. I've got a baby lilac growing in a pot in my yard, cutting given by a friend and it's thriving.
how lovely.how big are your lilac trees?cos what i have learn't esp from buying from tinterweb/newspapers etc.is to for the first year to pot your tree in a much large pot this year, with good mulch around the base and sides, mulch is a good preferably home grown compost, if not go to garden centre and get a bag. and keep your trees in a shady/sunshiney part of the garden, ie half and half of shade/sun....just for the first year of recieving.then second year, ie this time next year or a tad earlier, trees in uk like being planted in april/may.....plant in hole that is at least one spade depth deep and 1 spade width wider...and plant a tube - old piece of down pipe/small guttering into the hole and use the bottom end of pop bottle as a cap, and then plant with same/similar mulch...the piping is there for the first 2 years to enable root watering, ie, remove lid (pop bootle bottom) and use a whole watering can to water in - at least every 2 days, esp if you get a hot hot hot summer...and then a year later you can remove the pipe and leave to nature to water.i too love lilacs, some stunning blossoms and wonderful smells.
There were tons of wild lilacs all over Germany Austria and Italy, particularly the very deep purple ones.I love them, but not close to the building, I've had one come up persistently through concrete.My gran would not allow them in the house but I never found out why.
I've got a white lilac tree in the garden -- it's about 2.5 metres high, several years old. It's next to a huge bay tree hedge which surrounds 2/3 of the property. I've just had the hedge heavily pruned (years overdue) and the lilac is more exposed. Wondering when I should feed it, and with what. It hasn't had a lot of flowers over the years so I'd like to encourage it. Any suggestions?I'm in Melbourne, so my seasons are 'upside down'. :)
June 1 is our first day of winter.....
Bay is one greedy plant, not happy having neighbours !What do you feed it with ?Do you give it a good mulch early Spring ?
Sam - they are about half a metre high. I was rather hoping to plant them in a bare space of the garden though. Maybe I ought to rethink....?
You see them all over the UK growing in railway stations,derelict areas etc. that have never been tended.Bung them in with a good bit of compost, splay out the roots and water regularly their first year if dry. Give 'em a feed after 6 weeks or so and apart from that ignore. Next early Spring another dose of food and a mulch. Even then they will be spoilt !!
They are all planted and look happy. We have run the geraniums along the back of the garden, but I need about 10 more to fill it all in, we have a neighbour who has some and she is goign to divide up some this weekend and bring them round. The lilac trees look good, all fed, and being watered daily.
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