Lilac or not

[roseycheeks]

I have a plant that my neighbor swears is a Lilac, I have had it two years and it has never bloomed! I have it full sun and it just grows tall, it has leaves but no blooms, one stem is taller than I am. One other page said it might be a weed tree! I will see if I can post a picture for you.

[hendi_alex]

Hard to tell from the photo, but sometimes lilacs take several years to bloom.

[roseycheeks]

Thanks, is there anything I can do to find out for sure? Or just let it grow and see what if anything happens?

[hendi_alex]

I think that most lilacs are fairly slow growing, staying fairly compact for several years. If yours shoots up very tall in just a year or two then that May bearded flag.

[tomc]

Lilac is very symetrical. Two end buds, two flower buds, two two two, if there is none of that kind of symatry it might not be lilac. I can't tell from the photo.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, it will be easier to tell once it is leafed out. Post us another picture then.

In the meantime, yes lilacs can take a few years to bloom. Also, what is right around it? Is it lawn? Do you fertilize the lawn? Lawn fertilizer is mainly nitrogen, because we don't expect lawn to bloom. But excess nitrogen can cause shrubs to grow tall and leafy, but not bloom.

[hendi_alex]

edit for above: "may be a red flag".

I hate this auto correct thing! Perhaps will figure out how to turn it off. Ah, Apple preference, keyboard, text. Found the little bugger! Now any typos will be my own, not the computer's.

[roseycheeks]

It bloomed! The blooms are small, white and smell heavenly! Here is a picture of one of the twigs with the blossoms on it.

[luis_pr]

Congratulations! Keep on smelling!

[roseycheeks]

My Lilac tree is starting to get green on it already, I don't know what kind it is except it is white. Does anyone know what kind of Lilac starts to green up in the early spring or very late winter?

[luis_pr]

Sister Justina is an early blooming white lilac but this year, I bet the warm winter weather courtesy of El Nino has more to do with the early blooming. Down here, I have hydrangeas, azaleas, camellias, quinces and roses at all stages of blooming. Man!

[roseycheeks]

I got a couple of pictures of the lilac bush, a few of them have started to turn white, here it is. They are symmetrical, two, two, two.

[tomc]

It bloomed! The blooms are small, white and smell heavenly! Here is a picture of one of the twigs with the blossoms on it.

100_5697.JPG

Thats a lilac. The leaves are in pairs on either side of the branch, Lilac do best in full sun and with a fair amount of limestone in the soil.

[tomc]

Walter Pall had some white blooming lilac that were use for wedding bouquettes in East Germany (just to give hint of how old this tale is), Anyway they were rotated into green houses to be forced, and returned to a wet clay-ey bed to recover.

Because they were working trees that were heavily pruned, they were natural candidates for his bonsai training.

My point is full sun and they should make it. This is a rugged little bush.

[roseycheeks]

Here is what my little bush looks like now, it has blooms all over and smells heavenly.

[roseycheeks]

One of my neighbors who has a lilac bush does not think it is one, I researched it and found out it is a Japanese Privet, they bloom white like a lilac and they are just as pretty and smell just as good. So I am going to go with it and say it is a Privet. Thanks for all your advice and suggestions, I think it is pretty much established itself and will grow bigger, I may have to prune it back some if it gets too big.