baby lilac

[Drea M]

I bought a baby lilac last year. It was really more like a stick in a box that said it was a lilac. (All summer long I would question my husband after he'd cut the grass..."you didn't cut down my lilac stick, did you?") This year, the stick is a little bigger and seems to have more leaves on it! Currently it sits about a foot from a fence in a partly sunny, slightly damp location in our yard. I am thinking of moving it. Any suggestions about what will help this baby thrive? How many years should I anticipate it taking for the little guy to actually flower??

Thanks,
Drea

[The Helpful Gardener]

If Dear Husband is in danger of mowing the "stick", then there is too much competition from grass; dig all the grass out from around the plant for about 18" and mulch. Moving it before it leafs out would be best; sooner is better. LOTS of water when you replant it and then an inch a week or so; watch the leaves and if they droop hit it again. You have a long way to go for flowers; at least two or three more years and I would probably take the flowers off for a few years until it got more established (flowering is VERY stressfull and should be left to mature plants). Time is money and this is clearer when you look at nursery stock than almost any where else. That "stick" was cheap, but you did not pay for the three or four years of professional growing that would get you a mature flowering plant...

Scott