And growing similar plants in different sizes. I also have five huge lilacs around my house (one of them is to the left). The Lincoln is one of three I out in as six inch plants from Forest Farm (they were out of larger sizes) that a re now six feet tall.
The rose on the trellis is Quadra - red! And you can see the tulips I showed above.
Oh, just found a pic that shows the contrast better.
When you have a red house, you can get away with a lot.
Those are excellent lilacs Donna
Those really large lilacs by the house are impressive.
Ge, Rita, thank you. Lilacs can be completely neglected, but they do respond to love. They are very old fashioned plants, and both of these are heirloom varieties, but I love old fashioned roses, lilacs and annuals. The you can get more modern with lilies. I'm so glad that you like them.
My old lilacs that came with the house are just about ready to open. Then I have newer ones that I planted myself about four years ago. Those are not quite ready yet. Lilacs are such an old cottage garden favorite show of spring. And they just smell so divine. I love spring.
I do too! This spring is particularly wonderful here. It started early, then it cools down to slow the progress, then speeds up again. I still have ALL of my daffs. But the late flowering tulips have started, while the midseason remain. One crabapple in bloom, the other in bud. I find that lilacs you plant (if they are in the 8" category I put in) take about five years to bloom. Give them lots of compost and try to keep them weeded. For the first 3-4 years they seem ok - then POW!
I paid a nominal fee to get a landscaping plan in my community. In exchange for that I could request/refuse plants. I got five lilacs - they are all supposed to be Michel Buchner but I can see they are two different kinds. The MB's are the ones on which the leaves are bluish green, big and heartshaped. That way they are still pretty after bloom. I'm in scent heaven here, because in addition to 8 lilacs in bloom, my viburnum carlesi is still giving off scent.
I know that lilacs are supposed to be passe. Maybe I'm just more old fashioned that you're supposed to admit, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat! I'm a hopeless romantic.
Who cares what other people think is passe? When somone offers a disparaging comment like that, my favorite retort is: 'Your opinion is none of my business'
What makes you happy is what is important. :)
You're the best!
I live in Lilac City. Highland Park is the home of some of the most beautiful and oldest lilacs in the world.
There will be a festival here in May which draws people from all over the world. Dont tell me lilacs are pasee .Not true.
Billyporter, I love your "9 Volt" and by the way I prefer that name over "Lori"! What a pretty color! I would love to see your peonies when they bloom, also. Maybe I should try Siberian iris again - after all I'll have to patronize polly's site which i didn't know existed until a week or two ago. I myself am starting to lean against the TB irises - much as I love them, and they do so well here - everyone has them - but they fall over easily and I am tired of staking them. I saw a pic of a dwarf bearded Iris that BookerC (Angie) posted on another thread, and now I want some of those :-)
Donna, I second - I mean third - I mean fourth what everyone else said about your lilacs. You manage to squeeze so much into a relatively small area and still make it look classy - a trait I still need a lot of work on, LOL. And I am with Moby in that who cares what anyone else thinks - there aren't many things that are as much of a personal statement as someone's garden as a result of his/her hard work and I say plant and grow what you love.
Thats right. And that is one of the absolute best things about gardening too, is that each garden is different from anyone elses.
Your comments are so kind.
I saw the lilac festival on Mackinaw Island. It's part of the reason I was inspired to add more. I have a neighbor who is always telling me that I should put in Meyer lilacs, which she has. They are more compact and disease free, but the scent is not the same. I love the common lilac. It has magic! And a certain over-the-topness, which I really like.
As you always remind us, Rita, there is something for everyone.
This message was edited Apr 27, 2010 9:10 AM
Nothing wrong with common.
I love the common lilac also. You can't beat the scent!
Beautiful plantings, Donna. I know it smells heavenly there. We have tons of lilacs here, too.
And you're right, the Meyer lilacs just don't have the same sniff. They are a spicier sniffer. Not that I don't like them, but give me an ole fashion Syringa vulgarius any day.
DonnaMack, I can almost smell President Lincoln. I miss having lilacs. Mine got old and were in a bad place. I never put one back yet. I'm waiting to find a deep deep sweet smelling purple like I grew up with. Gorgeous tulips!! It looks like you have a wonderful large yard! Nice house too! Wow, those are lilacs!! You have viburnum carlesi too!!! Anyone who catches a whiff of lilacs on the breeze are glad someone plants them.
Oh Ge, I'd be tempted to pull me off a little runner :o)
Steve, me too, a much prettier name. Renmind me not to try a slogan contest, LOL! Will do when the peonies are ready yet. I love the siberian because they bloom early. I want everything everyone else has too :o)
I vote the old fashioned lilac too!
Siberian Iris, Steve (yes, it's real name)
The lilacs in my yard have started blooming. Its slightly windy today and you can't get in the front yard anywhere without getting nice wiffs of the wonderful lilac scent. I have some of the newer fangled kind blooming plus the old ones and it smells divine.
About four years or so ago I went crazy and added about 11 new lilacs to the garden. It was a very good idea.
Rita - 11 NEW lilacs!!! Wow. If you get a chance, will you send us pics?
BP (you make me laugh) my yard is actually not that big, but I'm glad I create the illusion. The house, with the yard, is a little over a quarter acre, but I have a ten foot easement on the south side (where the President Lincolns are). It allows me to plant next to the house and then to put a bunch of stuff further away, so it doesn't get claustrophobic. Also, I'm a big fan of ornamental trees, because they don't get too large - cherries, crabapples, smokebushes, a pagoda dogwood, a paperbark maple. Rita sounds like she has a substantial planting place, and so do several others.
I've always wondered what I would do with more space. I think I'd have more shade trees and go wacko on the ornamental ones.
Space, what space? Everything is crammed here. I have a very normal suburban sized lot. I did pick lilacs that would not grow too big, I think they mostly supposed to top at 7 feet. Then I planted a bunch of them in a hedrow that definanes an area of my frontyard. The ones in the hedrow don't bloom too well until they get tall enough to be as tall or taller than the other shrubs and get more sun. I see this spring that they are finially getting tall. That means they should bloom well next year. They were not big mail order plants from Song Sparrow Nursery mail order.
The others which are the different type (is it Koren?) lilacs bloomed great from year one. But they are shrubbier while the olthers are the old fashioned types only in newer colors (blue).
Love the Siberian Iris, Billyporter - great name too !!
^_^
Rita, it's probably the gorgeous photographs that les me to think you have a large yard - so many beautiful things there.
My President Lincolns were about 8 inches tall because that was all Forest Farm had and I was impatient. I have noticed that they start slowlu, but do much better if you can manage to weed them, compost them, mulch them and give them a balanced fertilizer in spring. They won't die without it but the few minuts of work makes an amazing difference.
Oh, and do try, anyone who is aquiring, to find ones that don't get mildew. When I was searching I wanted the bluest blue I could find, at least 10 feet tall, mildew free, and double flowers. I got everything but double flowers. The fact that PL is an heirloom was a bonus - who would think they were growing mildew free common lilacs way back when?
NYRita, oh, I'd lovee to be smelling your yard, sigh.
Donna, the ''Master Of Illusion'' :o) You do look like a big place. I am probably the smallest yard. West, down the sidewalk, is 177' East, along the alley, is, 187' South, is 111' and North, is 91'. We have two garages and I have to leave room for any emergancy equipment to drive around the house. Like the year our sewer went out and they had to put a new pipe in right by the house. I am .40 acres :o( It would be a lot smaller, because we only bought one lot in 1976, and over the years were able to buy the lots on both sides. We are also the only block in town that is not squarely N. S. E. and W. Hence, my odd measurements. That, and a neighbor who put their line in crooked after selling us a a portion of their lot. If I had one more lot, it would be fruit trees and raspberries!
NYRita, smiling, all of you seem to use your space well!
Steve, I thought you would like it!
Donna, that is lucky and I see you research carefully before buying too.
It looks like a nice day ahead. Just 70 and sunshine! I might be able to shed a coat today. Nice thing about a coat is I don't have to put on sunscreen.
My yard is crammed. Each year it gets more crammed as I keep working on the garden. But it has all turned out very well. If something doesn't work, I am not afraid to change it.
Master of Illusion - I like that! I can keep being piggy about acquisition. OINK!
Geez, billyp ~ that's not such a small plot! :) I have 1/2 acre with a long ranch-style house, 250 ft. gravel drive to get here, a shed, 3-stall garage (plus it's concrete drive) and a brick patio the same size as the garage. I have all the garden I can handle and still have plenty of lawn.
Dang, if I had any more than that, I'd have to quit my job! So Donna ~ you can have my share of 'oinks'. ;)
We got a scare here. I looked at the forecast for last night and saw a low of 38. Got up this morning to frost on some sections of grass and a notice that it has gone to 32 last night. Expected to see lily stems decimated (especially regale, which is highly susceptible) but was pleased to have been spared.
I thought I say a thread on which Tracey said it was going down to 28. Are eveyone's lilies OK up north. Was this late frost just an isolated thing?
We were suppose to get below freezing last night, but my thermometer had a low of 33.7. I'm naughty and even have annuals out already...covered them up with blankets only to have a local sweet feral cat (spayed and released into the "wild") think I made it for her, a nice bed. The petunias recovered, perhaps the frost would have been easier on them than a 10 pound cat. Lol.
The temps into the high twenties a week or two ago and the lilies did fine. You've had trouble with regale mushing up in the mid twenties?
I hope all of your lilies remain OK!! I have found that as long as temps stay above 28 or so you will be OK ;-) Well with most of them at l,east.
We had frost last night.The weatherman was saying last killing frost will be this week
I do NOT believe him.
I have had too many years of teaser springs that tempthed me to put annuals out befor mid to late May. Lost a lot of coleus that way.
Oops, I think my Amethyst Temples may not be blooming this year. They are THE most sensitive to frost. I'm a moron. I should have covered them. I KNOW this. BUT - they'll be biggernext year!
Well wait and see Donna - I can't believe a slight frost would do them in. Did they show signs of freeze damage?
They look a bit limpid at the top. And they are delicate We'll see.
Limp? Like drooping a bit? Many of mine are doing that right now but will stop doing it later as they get sturdier. I don't think we had frost here.
I was looking at last year's pix, and I think my garden -- in particular the lilies -- is a good two weeks ahead of last year, if not more. We did have a terribly cold, wet spring in '09.
I had my first casualty yesterday when I broke a lily off with my very own big toe.
Dont cha hate that?
I have lost 2 to stupidity.
One was a Casablanca.I was weeding and chopped too close.
The other(Golden Splendor) looked like last years dead stem so I yanked it.
OOOOPS it had a new stem in it.
Wickerparker, I know my lilies are ahead of schedule too. Aawww, I broke a columbine off. It was it's first time to bloom.
Ge, yanking is sad too!
It's pouring rain at the moment. I thinks its about the last one. I won't have to water a thing!
Its MayDay and what great weather.
Happy May Day! It is going to be a beautiful day here!
This hatched out yesterday!
Wonderful sight.
Some yellow Asiatics - London I think - with peonies.
Ha, Steves lilies are starting. Should be lots of nice pictures from now on :-))
