Our yard has both white and the traditional purple lilacs and this is the best they've ever done. Huge perfectly formed blossoms and a perfume like no other.
According to Wikipedia,
Syringa (
Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of
flowering woody plants in the olive family (
Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern
Europe to eastern
Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in
temperate areas elsewhere.
They are
deciduous shrubs or small
trees, ranging in size from 2 to 10 metres (6 ft 7 in to 32 ft 10 in) tall, with stems up to 20 to 30 centimetres (7.9 to 12 in) diameter. The
leaves are opposite (occasionally in whorls of three) in
arrangement, and their
shape is simple and heart-shaped to broad lanceolate in most species, but
pinnate in a few species (e.g.
S. protolaciniata, S. pinnatifolia). The
flowers are produced in spring, each flower being 5 to 10 millimetres (0.20 to 0.39 in) in diameter with a four-lobed
corolla, the corolla tube narrow, 5 to 20 millimetres (0.20 to 0.79 in) long; they are
bisexual, with fertile
stamens and
stigma in each flower. The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or
lilac), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found. The flowers grow in large
panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. Flowering varies between mid spring to early summer, depending on the species. The
fruit is a dry, brown
capsule, splitting in two at maturity to release the two winged
seeds.
Lilacs flower on old wood, and produce more flowers if unpruned. If pruned, the plant responds by producing fast-growing young vegetative growth with no flowers, in an attempt to restore the removed branches; a pruned lilac often produces few or no flowers for one to five or more years, before the new growth matures sufficiently to start flowering. Unpruned lilacs flower reliably every year. Despite this, a common fallacy holds that lilacs should be pruned regularly. If pruning is required, it should be done right after flowering is finished, before next year's flower buds are formed. Lilacs generally grow better in slightly
alkaline soil.
Lilac bushes can be prone to powdery mildew disease, which is caused by poor air circulation.
The wood of lilac is close-grained, diffuse-porous, extremely hard and one of the densest in Europe. The sapwood is typically cream-coloured and the heartwood has various shades of brown and purple. Lilac wood has traditionally been used for engraving, musical instruments, knife handles etc. When drying, the wood has a tendency to be encurved as a twisted material, and to split into narrow sticks. The wood of Common Lilac is even harder than for example that of
Syringa josikaea.
In addition to being a widely used garden plant, a tea can be made from the leaves, flowers and thinner branches of Syringa vulgaris (common lilac), and common white lilac, which has a floral flavor. Some claim that this tea has shown some signs that it may produce a light euphoria in higher amounts (3+ cups of strongly brewed tea), but claims of this are relatively unverified and there is no scientific backing to report such claims. Also some find the white varieties of common lilac to have a sweeter and more pleasurable flavor, and both varieties (white and purple) seem to produce more palatable tea with more flowers and little leaves.
In the fall after the seed pods have dried we have cut them from the tree but even where we left them on because they were too high for us to reach safely or because we were too lazy to do anymore, the blossoms came back around the old pods.
We have a couple of Lilacs in the front yard on either side of the steps and in an effort to control them we cut the old wood back so only got a few blossoms but a lot of new growth which needs to be trimmed again. So, I'll be giving them a slight haircut so that old wood matures beneath it. Either that or tear it out because the Missus thinks its moving the front step. She could be right. They were planted by the previous home owner, probably as little twigs and they looked cute. Now they are too close and taking over the stairs. Ah, the joys of home ownership.
Before I go, here's a little thing we've experimented with to have delicious new potatoes without scab or bugs in them. We started this a few years ago on the farm and had great results. Huge potatoes with clear skin and easy to harvest without digging. Huh you might ask? How the heck did you do that?
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| Our Straw bed for growing potatoes. |
We planted them in straw! Plain old barley straw, or wheat straw, it doesn't matter. Since we've moved to town it's been a bit of a disappointment. But we're trying it again. This time we've let the straw mature more by leaving it over winter. We raked it into a pile this spring, rototilled where it lay and then spread it back over top. In this picture we've planted about two dozen seed potatoes so we'll have plenty for a while. They came up better this year but the frost has been driving us nuts so we just keep adding straw on top of the new leaves and that seems to help protect them. Our neighbor didn't cover and his were quite black yesterday morning. (oh, and this is June 7!)
The pile doesn't look like much now but you can see that our corn is up to the left of the picture as are all our other veggies. The green things at the back are volunteer sunflowers that we let grow to feed the birds over winter and provide us with some bright sunshiney flowers all summer long. Yes, we do control them a bit but the Missus likes the natural look. Anyway, we'll post more as the summer progresses to let you know how the spuds are doing. Enjoy.
