California Gardening: SPRING IS HERE!!!, 1 by chrisw99

chrisw99 wrote:
Lilac Blue Skies taken Apr 6.

I have L Blue Skies and Angel White which I think are both Descanso lilacs bred to bloom without winter chill. Angel White has been a shorter bush for me, but it had a problem and dropped most of its leaves the first year which could have set it back. The area where they are planted is a dry, hot hillside with some afternoon shade. I do have soaker hoses to them about once per week. Planted in wire baskets to keep the gophers at bay. I feed them once when they have leaf buds and another time after they bloom. They were planted about 3-4 years ago so it has taken a while to reach this size--probably would have been much faster with more water and more nutrients. Still, I am very pleased with the results---the bouquets with early roses like Madame Alfred Carriere are delightfully fragrant.

Chris