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Growing white lilac. Timely planting of lilacs and proper care will give a good result.

Lilac is one of the most beloved shrubs, the flowering of which is associated with the real onset of spring. The divine aromas spread during this period fascinate, fall in love with yourself. Due to the dense lush crown, the plant is often used to form green walls that cover a certain area from prying eyes.

Belonging to the olive family, lilac is one of the main inhabitants of gardens and home gardens. Outwardly, this luxurious shrub is characterized by large purple, pink or white flowers, collected in paniculate inflorescences, located at the ends of the branches. The fruit is a bivalve dry box. The leaves are green, most often whole, less often pinnatipartite; fall for the winter. Lilac, planting and care of which in the household is practically minimized, has a high endurance, grows well in the open air.

The most popular types of lilacs

By varieties, lilacs, planting and caring for which are quite easy, are divided into simple and terry. Common lilac, a native of the Balkan Peninsula, has become most widespread, on the territory of which it grows at high altitude and clings to steep rocky slopes with its roots. Blooms in May with purple and white flowers. Has many varieties.

Persian lilac. Characterized by fragrant purple flowers. Some of its varieties have pinnately cut leaves. The flowers are white.

Chinese lilac. It is a hybrid of the common and Persian. Characterized by large red-purple flowers.

Lilac Hungarian. The flowers are purple, with a barely perceptible aroma. Flowering occurs in late May - June.

Lilac: planting and care in the open field

The landing site should be well lit; with a lack of sun, plant growth will be slow, flowering may be absent. Strong sunshine can cause lilacs to develop small and fast-blooming inflorescences. Optimal for planting is a sunny, well-protected place from the winds.

Planting lilacs should be carried out in late summer - early autumn, preferably in the evening or in damp, cloudy weather. The depth of the planting pit, dug in advance for 2-3 weeks, is recommended from 0.5 to 1 meter with the same width. Be sure to add organic fertilizers, wood ash or humus to the soil when planting (up to 20 kg per planting pit).

Quality flowering will be observed with normal growth, which depends on how well the lilac is maintained. Planting and care (the photo shows all the beauty of your favorite plant), if carried out correctly, combined with love for the plant, will determine its continuous chic flowering and active growth.

Every autumn, the soil needs to be dug up to a depth of about 12 cm, carefully so as not to damage the roots of the plant. For the winter, the dug up soil should be left unleveled so that the weed seeds in it freeze out during the winter.

Lilac top dressing is done in early spring, as soon as the growth of shoots begins. A mineral complex is introduced under one bush, consisting of 20-30 grams of ammonium nitrate, 30 grams of superphosphate, 15-20 grams of potassium chloride; the depth of embedding in this case is 10-15 cm. It is recommended to fertilize with mineral fertilizers simultaneously with the introduction of mullein or slurry.

The second feeding is carried out during the formation of the kidneys with the same composition.

How to cut a lilac

Planting and care, pruning are important factors contributing to the quality growth of this crop. The purpose of pruning is to form a crown and maintain the shape of a bush, which causes abundant annual flowering.

In the first two years from the moment of planting, the growth of lilac is rather weak, therefore the nature of pruning is sanitary and thinning. In the third year, when the growth of the bush is activated, cardinal pruning is required. In early spring, it is necessary to choose about 10 strong shoots in the crown, giving the shrub a sprawling shape and as far as possible from each other. Subsequently, it is these branches that will become trunks; the rest of the shoots should be cut off. Small branches directed inward of the crown must be cut out completely, stronger ones directed outward should be shortened. If the lilac is cut in the fall, then next spring it will not bloom. Also, around the lilac bush, it is required to regularly remove basal shoots and rhizome offspring.

Lilac reproduction

Lilac propagation is carried out by root shoots, cuttings and grafting, used mainly for garden forms. For cuttings, it is required to take well leafy, semi-lignified shoots; in this case, leaf blades must be reduced by half. Make the lower cut oblique, under the internode, the upper one - above the leaf node. For rooting, the cuttings need to be planted in coarse sand, poured onto the nutrient soil of the greenhouse with a 3-5 cm layer. After planting and spraying the planted branches with water, the greenhouses must be covered with frames, providing the plants with diffused light and a temperature of + 25-30 degrees. As they take root, the cuttings are gradually accustomed to open air. The cuttings rooted in greenhouses are left for the winter, having previously covered them with foliage or spruce twigs. They can also be stored buried in the basement in winter. In the spring, land on the beds.

You need to cut it in the early morning, while removing most of the leaves from the branches, because they evaporate a lot of moisture. Cut lilacs from young bushes last longer than from old ones. The inflorescence should have at least 2/3 of the opened flowers, because the buds will not bloom in the cut. Before placing the bouquet in a vase, it is required to refresh the oblique cuts by making new ones under water. A tricky but effective trick: crush the ends of the shoots with a hammer. It is recommended to add 2-3 grams of acetic or citric acid to the water. A wilted bouquet can be refreshed by placing it in very hot water.

Plant diseases and pests

For those who want to acquire a chic, pleasantly smelling plant on their own site, it is worth knowing everything about this culture: what are behind such a plant as lilac, planting and care, its diseases, timing of pruning and watering regimen. Pests and diseases affect lilacs quite rarely. This is a lilac mining moth, the object of which is the leaves of the bush. After exposure to this insect, the lilac looks as if burned and practically does not bloom the next year. Such a pest should be fought by deep digging the soil under the bush in autumn and spring (in order to destroy the pupae that have settled in the soil), cutting and burning the affected shoots.

Also, lilac, planting and caring for which bring true lovers of beauty a lot of joy, is sometimes affected by bacterial necrosis; this happens at the beginning of August. The disease is transmitted by irrigation water, insects, planting material. The presence of this disease can be determined by the graying of the leaves and the browning of the shoots. In this case, the use of drugs aimed at pest control, removal and disposal of damaged parts of the plant, uprooting and burning of heavily affected bushes is required.

Lilac- a genus of shrubs of the Olive family, which, according to various sources, includes from 22 to 36 species growing in the mountainous regions of Eurasia. Plant common lilac (lat. Syringa vulgaris) is the type species of the genus Lilac. In the wild, lilac can be found on the Balkan Peninsula, along the lower reaches of the Danube, in the Southern Carpathians. In cultivation, the lilac shrub is used as an ornamental plant, as well as to protect and strengthen slopes subject to erosion. In European garden culture, lilac began to be grown from the middle of the 16th century, after the Roman ambassador brought it from Constantinople. The Turks called the plant "lilac", and in the gardens of Flanders, Germany and Austria they began to grow it under the name "Turkish viburnum" or "lilac".

In those days, lilac occupied a very modest position in European ornamental horticulture due to the short flowering period, small flowers and loose panicles, however, after the Frenchman Victor Lemoine took up plant breeding, several dozen varieties of long and luxuriantly blooming lilacs appeared with dense inflorescences of the correct forms. In addition, Lemoine created varieties of various colors with double flowers. After Victor, his son Emil and grandson Henri were engaged in lilac breeding. In total, Lemoine bred 214 varieties of lilac. In France, lilac breeding was also carried out by Charles Balte, Auguste Gouchot and Francois Morel, in Germany by Ludwig Shpet and Wilhelm Pfitzer. At the beginning of the 20th century, Jan van Tol, Klaas Kessen, Hugo Coster and Dirk Evelens Maarse bred new varieties of lilac in Holland, and Karpov-Lipski in Poland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, interest in lilac also arose in North America, where Gulda Klager, John Dunbar, Theodor Havemeyer and other well-known breeders from the USA and Canada were engaged in breeding new plant varieties. On the territory of the former USSR, selection work with lilacs was carried out in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Today there are more than 2,300 varieties of lilac, differing in the shape and size of flowers, their color, flowering time, height and habit of the bushes. Two-thirds of these varieties were obtained with the participation of the common lilac species.

Planting and caring for lilacs

Bloom: at the beginning or in the middle of May, sometimes at the end of April.
Landing: from the second half of July to the beginning of September.
Lighting: bright light, light shade.
The soil: moderately moist, rich in humus, pH 5.0-7.0.
Watering: only in the first half of summer as the soil dries up. Water consumption for each bush - 25-30 liters. In the future, watering is carried out only in a prolonged drought.
Top dressing: the first 2-3 years, a little nitrogen fertilizer is applied under the bushes: from 1 to 3 buckets of slurry under each bush. Potassium-phosphorus fertilizers in the amount of 30-35 g of potassium nitrate and 35-40 g of double superphosphate for each adult bush, followed by irrigation, are applied once every 2-3 years. However, the best fertilizer for lilacs is a solution of 200 g of ash in a bucket of water.
Pruning: lilacs are pruned from the age of two in the spring, before the start of sap flow.
Reproduction: grafting, layering and cuttings.
Pests: leaf or bud mites, hawks, lilac moths and mining moths.
Diseases: powdery mildew, bacterial (nectrium) necrosis, verticillium and bacterial rot.

Lilac bush - description

Lilac is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a height of 2 to 8 m. Lilac trunks can reach a diameter of 20 cm. They are covered with gray or gray-brown bark, fissured on old trunks and smooth on young ones.

Lilac leaves bloom early, do not fall until the very frosts and can reach a length of 12 cm. They are opposite, usually whole, sometimes pinnatipartite. Depending on the type of lilac, the shape of the leaves can be oval, heart-shaped, ovoid or elongated with a pointed tip. Leaf color is light or dark green. White, lilac, purple, blue, violet or pink flowers, collected in terminal drooping panicles up to 20 cm long, consist of a short bell-shaped four-pronged calyx, two stamens and a corolla with a long cylindrical tube and a flat four-part limb. When does lilac bloom? Depending on the type of lilac, the climate of the area and the weather, flowering occurs from late April to early June. In any case, you will not miss this phenomenon: blooming lilacs will make themselves felt with a subtle, delicate and very pleasant aroma. The fruit of the plant is a bivalve box in which several winged seeds ripen.

Lilac lives under favorable conditions up to a hundred years. It does not require complex care, is not afraid of frost, and along with hydrangea and mock orange, or garden jasmine, is one of the most popular ornamental shrubs.

Planting lilacs in the garden

When to plant lilacs in the ground

Lilac, unlike other shrubs and trees, is best planted from the second half of July to early September. Planting lilacs in spring or autumn is impractical, since the plant does not take root well and practically does not grow in the first year. Plant lilacs in well-lit areas. The plant prefers moderately moist, humus-rich soils with a pH of 5.0-7.0.

When purchasing lilac seedlings, pay attention to the state of their root system: it must be developed and well branched. Before planting, the roots are shortened to 30 cm, broken, diseased or dried roots are removed. Too long shoots are also shortened, and the damaged ones are removed.

How to plant a lilac

Depending on the type and variety of planted plants, the distance between lilac seedlings should be from 2 to 3 m. How to plant lilac in the garden? First you need to prepare landing pits with sheer walls. The size of the pits in soils with good or medium fertility should be 50x50x50 cm, and when planting in sandy or poor soil, the size is doubled with the expectation that when planting the pit will be filled with a fertile substrate consisting of humus or compost (15-20 kg ), superphosphate (20-30 g) and wood ash (200-300 g). If the soil in the area is acidic, then the amount of ash is doubled.

A layer of drainage material (expanded clay, crushed stone, broken brick) is laid at the bottom of the planting pit, on which a hill of fertile soil mixture is poured. The seedling is set in the center of the pit on a hill, its roots are straightened and the pit is filled to the top with the substrate. The root neck of the seedling should be 3-4 cm above the surface level. After planting, the plant is watered abundantly, and when the water is absorbed, the near-stem circle is mulched with a layer of humus or peat 5-7 cm thick.

Lilac care in the garden

How to care for lilac

Caring for lilacs in the garden will not make it difficult even for a lazy gardener. How to grow lilac? It will grow by itself, you only need to water it in the first half of summer as the soil dries up, spending 25-30 liters of water per bush, and loosen the soil in its near-stem circle 3-4 times per season to a depth of 4-7 cm, while removing weeds. In August and September, lilac watering is carried out only in case of a prolonged drought. After 5-6 years, with easy care, your seedling will turn into a lush bush.

As for top dressing, in the first 2-3 years only a small amount of nitrogen is applied under lilac: from the second year - 50-60 g of urea or 65-80 g of ammonium nitrate for each bush. Although organic fertilizers act much more effectively on the plant, for example, from 1 to 3 buckets of slurry for each plant. To obtain a solution, one part of cow manure is diluted in five parts of water. Fertilizer is applied into a shallow furrow dug along the perimeter of the near-stem circle no closer than half a meter from the trunks.

Potash and phosphate fertilizers are applied once every 2-3 years at the rate of 30-35 g of potassium nitrate and 35-40 g of double superphosphate per adult plant. Granules are introduced to a depth of 6-8 cm with mandatory subsequent watering. But the best complex fertilizer for lilacs is a solution of 200 g of ash in 8 liters of water.

Lilac transplant in the garden

Transplanting lilacs 1-2 years after planting for experienced gardeners is a must. And here's why: lilac very quickly sucks out all the nutrients from the soil, even if you carried out regular feeding, so after two years the soil no longer has the energy that the plant needs for intensive growth and bright flowering.

Three-year-old lilacs are transplanted no earlier than August, and young bushes - at the end of spring, immediately after the end of flowering, otherwise they will not have time to take root. First, prepare the landing pits, as described earlier. Before transplanting, inspect the bush, remove all damaged, dry and unnecessary shoots and branches of lilac. Then the bush needs to be dug along the projection of the crown perimeter, removed from the ground along with an earthen clod, laid on oilcloth or dense fabric and moved to a new pit, which should be so much larger than the bush's earthen clod that a significant amount of nutrient soil could be added to it. .

Lilac pruning

Young plants under the age of two years do not need pruning, since they have not yet formed all the skeletal branches, but in the third year it is necessary to start forming the crown, which will take 2-3 years. Lilacs are cut in the spring, before the start of sap flow, until the lilac buds begin to swell: only 5-7 beautiful branches are left equidistant from each other, and the rest are cut off. Root growth is also removed. The next year, about half of the flowering shoots will have to be cut. The principle of pruning is that no more than eight healthy buds are left on each skeletal branch, and the rest of the branch is cut off so as not to overload the plant during the flowering period. Simultaneously with the forming pruning, sanitary pruning is also carried out: frozen, broken, diseased and improperly growing shoots are removed.

If you want to form a lilac in the form of a tree, you need to choose a seedling with a straight and strong vertical branch for planting, shorten it to the height of the trunk, and later form 5-6 skeletal branches from the growing shoots, while clearing the stem and near-stem circle from the undergrowth. When the standard lilac is formed, you will only have to thin out the crown annually.

Lilac care during flowering

In the spring, when warm weather sets in, an amazing smell of lilac spreads through the garden, which is very attractive to the beetles. You will have to manually collect Maybugs from the bush. During the active flowering of lilacs, it is necessary to cut off about 60% of flowering shoots - this is called pruning "for a bouquet" and is done to more intensively form new shoots and lay flower buds for next year. If you want lilac branches to stand in a vase longer, cut them in the early morning, and split the bottom of each cut branch. When the bush fades, it is necessary to remove all wilted brushes from it.

Pests and diseases of lilac

For pests and harmful microorganisms, lilac is practically invulnerable, but under certain circumstances it can be affected by powdery mildew, bacterial necrosis, verticillosis and bacterial rot, as well as leaf or bud mites, hawk moth, lilac moth and mining moth.

Bacterial, or nectrium, necrosis manifests itself in August: the green leaves of the lilac become ash-gray, and the young shoots turn brown or brown. To avoid damage, you need to thin out the crown of the plant, thereby increasing its ventilation, remove diseased areas and prevent pests from appearing on the lilac. If the lesion is too strong, the bush will have to be uprooted.

bacterial rot affects leaves, shoots, flowers and buds of lilac. It can also appear on the roots as wet, rapidly growing spots. As a result of the development of the disease, the leaves lose turgor and dry, but do not fall off immediately, the shoots dry and bend. 3-4 treatments of lilacs with copper oxychloride with an interval of 10 days will help you cope with the disease.

powdery mildew It is caused by a fungus and easily affects both young and mature plants: the leaves are covered with a loose grayish-white coating, which becomes dense and turns brown with the development of the disease. The disease progresses in dry hot summers. When the first signs of the disease appear, the affected areas should be cut and burned, and the bush should be treated with a fungicidal preparation. In early spring, the soil should be dug up with bleach at the rate of 100 g per m², being careful not to disturb the lilac roots.

verticillium wilt- also a fungal disease, from which lilac leaves curl up, become covered with rusty or brown spots, dry and fall off. Drying starts at the top of the bush and progresses very quickly. To stop the disease, you need to spray the bush with a solution of 100 g of laundry soap and 100 g of soda ash in 15 liters of water. Treatment of a diseased plant with Abiga-Peak is also effective. Affected areas should be cut off and burned with fallen leaves.

Lilac hawk moth- a very large butterfly with a marble pattern on the front wings, leading a nocturnal lifestyle. In the caterpillar stage, it is also quite large - up to 11 cm in length. You can also recognize it by a dense outgrowth in the form of a horn in the back of the body. Not only lilac, but also viburnum, meadowsweet, ash, currant and grapes can become a victim of the hawk caterpillar. The pest is destroyed by treatment with a one percent solution of Phtalofos.

Lilac moth lives in light forests and on hedgerows. She gives two generations in one season. As a result of the vital activity of its small caterpillars, only veins rolled into a tube remain from the leaves, and the buds, flowers and buds disappear completely. You can destroy the pest by treating lilacs with Karbofos or Fozalon.

Lilac leaf mite- a small insect that sucks juices from the underside of lilac leaves, which makes them dry and turn brown. A large number of ticks can destroy a large lilac bush in two weeks. To prevent this from happening, treat the plant by leaves with a solution of copper or iron sulphate, do not forget to thin out the crown, feed the bush with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers and burn fallen leaves in autumn.

Lilac bud mite spends its life in the buds of plants: it feeds on their juice and hibernates in them. As a result, the buds are deformed, the leaves and shoots from them grow weak and underdeveloped, the lilac stops blooming and may die. In order to avoid such consequences in early spring, as soon as the frosts pass, remove dry foliage and basal shoots from under the bush, dig the soil in the near-stem circle to a full bayonet with turning the earth over and treat the lilac with a solution of copper sulfate.

mining moth it affects the leaves of plants, which is why they are first covered with dark brown spots (mines), and after a while they curl up into a tube, as if from fire. Sick bushes stop blooming and die in a year or two. The pest is destroyed by abundant treatment of the leaves with Bordeaux liquid, a solution of Fitosporin-M or Bactofit, and for the purpose of prevention, it is necessary to remove and burn plant residues in the fall, and before frosts and in early spring, deeply dig the soil in the near-trunk circle.

Lilac reproduction

How to propagate lilac

Seed propagation of lilac is carried out mainly by specialists in nurseries. In amateur gardening, varietal lilacs are propagated by grafting, layering and cuttings. Both own-rooted lilac seedlings, grown from layering and cuttings, and grafted, go on sale. Own-rooted lilac is not as capricious as grafted, it recovers more easily after frosty winters, reproduces well vegetatively and, therefore, is more durable.

Reproduction of lilacs by grafting

The rootstock for varietal lilac can be common lilac, Hungarian lilac and common privet. Lilacs can be budded in summer with a dormant bud or in spring with an awakening bud, and spring grafting is preferable, since the survival rate of cuttings at this time is quite high - about 80%. For spring budding, cuttings are harvested in February or March and kept in a refrigerator at a temperature of 0 to 4 ºC wrapped in paper. Cuttings are cut from ripened annual shoots, on which the bark has already turned brown.

The stock is also prepared in advance: the lateral shoots are cut at a height of 15-20 cm, the basal shoots are removed. The thickness of the root neck of the stock should not be thinner than a pencil, and the bark should easily move away from the wood, for which the stock should be watered abundantly a week before grafting. On the day of grafting, the ground is raked from the root neck of the stock, the grafting site is wiped with a damp, clean cloth, the stump of the stock is split in the center to a depth of 3 cm with a budding knife. splitting the stock, completely immersing the areas cleared of bark into it, and wrap the grafting site with adhesive tape so that its sticky side looks out. Then, all damages and places from which the kidneys were removed are treated with a garden pitch, and a plastic bag is put on the grafted stalk, fixing it to create a greenhouse effect below the grafting site. The package is not removed until the buds begin to swell on the scion.

Budding is carried out on a dry fine day from 5 to 10 in the morning or in the evening, from 16 to 20 hours.

Propagation of lilacs by layering

To perform this method of reproduction, find a young shoot that begins to lignify, drag it in two places in spring (at the base, and retreating another 80 cm) with copper wire, trying not to damage the bark, then lay the shoot in a groove 1.5-2 cm deep , leaving the top on the surface, and fix it in it with hairpins. When the shoots growing from the cutting up reach 15-17 cm, spud them with fertile soil at least half the height. Do not forget to water the cuttings all summer long, remove the emerging weeds and sprinkle the ground under the growing shoots 1-2 more times. With the onset of cold weather, the layers are separated in places of constriction, cut so that each part has an escape with roots, and the pieces are sent to the school for growing or immediately planted in a permanent place. Do not forget to protect young plants wintering in the garden from the cold.

Reproduction of lilac cuttings

Since lilac cuttings are difficult to root, two rules must be observed:

cuttings should be harvested immediately after the end of flowering or during it;
cuttings are cut in the morning from young plants, choosing non-lignified shoots of medium thickness with short internodes and 2-3 nodes inside the crown.

The lower leaves are removed from the cuttings, the upper ones are shortened by half, the lower cut is made obliquely, and the upper one is at a right angle. Lilac cuttings are lowered with an oblique cut into a solution of a root formation stimulator for at least 16 hours.

For successful rooting, it is desirable to use a greenhouse or cutting box. The best rooting substrate is a mixture of sand and peat in equal parts, although sand can be partially replaced with perlite. A substrate treated with Fundazol or Maxim is placed in a sterile seedling container with a layer of about 20 cm, and 5 cm of calcined river sand is poured on top of it. Before planting, the lower ends of the cuttings are washed from the root-forming solution with clean water, after which the cuttings are planted in a layer of sand at such a distance from each other that their leaves do not touch each other. The cuttings are sprayed with water from a spray bottle and covered with a transparent lid. If you don't have a cutting box or greenhouse, cover each cutting with an inverted 5 liter clear plastic bottle with a cut-off neck. Contain rooting cuttings in partial shade. Make sure that the sand under the cuttings does not dry out and spray the air under the coating with water to create one hundred percent humidity, and to prevent fungal infection, spray once a week with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

The roots of the cuttings appear after 40-60 days, and after that it will be necessary to ventilate the cuttings every evening, and over time, the bottles are removed completely. If the roots appeared in the summer, the cuttings are planted in a bright area in light, slightly acidic soil and covered with spruce branches for the winter, but if rooting occurred closer to autumn, the cuttings are left to winter at the rooting site, and they are transplanted into the garden only in spring. Lilacs bloom from cuttings in the fifth year.

Reproduction of lilac seeds

If planting and caring for lilacs in the garden seemed too simple and insipid to you, and you are not looking for easy ways in life, you can try growing lilacs from seeds. Lilac seeds are collected in autumn in wet weather, after which the boxes are dried for several days at room temperature, then seeds are extracted from them, which are subjected to stratification: mixed with wet sand in a ratio of 1: 3, placed in a bag or container and stored in a vegetable box in the refrigerator. within two months. All the time of stratification, the sand should be slightly wet.

Lilac seeds are sown in the second decade of March in well-steamed or roasted garden soil to a depth of 15 mm. Crops are moistened with a spray bottle. Shoots may appear in two weeks, but sometimes seeds can take up to three months to germinate. Two weeks after the emergence of seedlings, the seedlings dive in increments of 4 cm, and with the onset of stable heat, the seedlings are planted in a permanent place.

You can sow seeds before winter in slightly frozen ground - this will free you from the stratification procedure. In the spring, the emerging shoots dive and send for growing.

Lilac after flowering

Adult lilacs winter well without shelter, but the root system of young seedlings is insulated with a layer of peat and dry leaves up to 10 cm thick. Varietal lilacs sometimes freeze in winter, so in spring they need to cut frostbitten shoots.

Types and varieties of lilac

There are about 30 types of lilac, and many of them are grown in parks and gardens. We will try to introduce you to the most popular species and give a description of the lilac varieties that are most popular in garden culture.

Amur lilac (Syringa amurensis)

- a shade-tolerant hygrophyte that grows in deciduous forests of northeastern China and the Far East and prefers well-moistened soils. Amur lilac is a multi-stemmed tree with a dense spreading crown, reaching a height of 20 m. In cultivation, this species is grown as a shrub up to 10 m high. they are dark green above and lighter on the underside, turning purple or orange-yellow in autumn. Small cream or white flowers with a honey aroma are collected in powerful panicles up to 25 cm long. This species is frost-resistant and hibernates without shelter. Amur lilac is used for single and group plantings and hedges. Cultivated since 1855.

originally from Hungary, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Carpathians. This is a shrub up to 7 m high with dense, branched, upward-pointing shoots and broadly elliptical, shiny, ciliated along the edges, dark green leaves up to 12 cm long. From below, the leaves are bluish-green, sometimes pubescent along the midrib. Small purple flowers with a weak aroma are collected in narrow, rare panicles divided into tiers. The species is characterized by unpretentiousness, resistance to urban conditions and is widely used in single and group plantings. The Hungarian lilac has been cultivated since 1830. Most often, two garden forms of the species are grown:

pale- with pale purple flowers;
red- with reddish-purple inflorescences.

- a compact view up to 1.5 m high with small broadly elliptical leaves 2-4 cm long, tapering towards the top and ciliate at the edges. On the upper side, the leaves are dark green, bare, on the lower side they are lighter and pubescent along the veins. Fragrant light lilac-pink flowers are collected in erect inflorescences from 3 to 10 cm long. The plant is frost-resistant.

- a hybrid between Afghan lilac and finely cut lilac. It is a shrub up to 3 m high with thin but dense pointed lanceolate leaves up to 7.5 cm long and light purple fragrant flowers up to 2 cm in diameter, collected in wide loose panicles. This hybrid has been in cultivation since 1640. The plant has several popular forms:

white lilac- a variety with inflorescences of white flowers;
red- form with red flowers;
dissected leaf- dwarf Persian lilac with spreading branches and small openwork pinnately lobed leaves.

is a hybrid between common lilac and Persian lilac. This species was bred in France in 1777. Chinese lilac reaches a height of 5 m. It has pointed ovate-lanceolate leaves up to 10 cm long and fragrant flowers up to 18 mm in diameter of an intense purple hue in buds and reddish-lilac when blooming, collected in drooping broad-pyramidal panicles up to 10 cm long. popular forms of Chinese lilac are:

double- terry purple lilac;
pale purple;
dark purple- the most spectacular variety of Chinese lilac.

- a hybrid obtained by Victor Lemoine from crossing broad-leaved lilacs with common lilacs. The leaves of this hybrid species are heart-shaped or broadly ovate, with a sharp apex. In autumn they turn from dark green to brown-purple. The flowers of this species are similar to the flowers of the common lilac, but are collected in looser and smaller inflorescences. Cultivated since 1899. The most spectacular is the terry form of this hybrid, but, in addition to it, this species is represented by such varieties of lilacs:

Esther Staley- a plant with purple-red buds and fragrant flowers of a bright purple-red hue up to 2 cm in diameter with petals folded back. The flowers form inflorescences up to 16 cm long;
Churchill- red-violet buds of this lilac become silver-purple fragrant flowers with a pink tint;
Puple Glory- a variety with very large simple purple flowers up to 3.5 cm in diameter, which make up dense inflorescences.

As for the common lilac, which has been in cultivation since 1583, it is represented by many varieties of domestic and foreign selection. For example:

lilac Red Moscow- a variety with purple-purple buds and dark purple fragrant flowers up to 2 cm in diameter with bright yellow stamens;
Violet- a variety known since 1916 with dark purple buds and light purple semi-double and double flowers up to 3 cm in diameter. The aroma of the flowers is weak;
Primrose- yellow lilac: the buds are greenish-yellow, and the flowers are light yellow;
Belicent- a tall straight bush of this variety is decorated with openwork coral-pink fragrant inflorescences up to 30 cm long and large, oval, slightly corrugated leaves.

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Lilac is an ornamental shrub, of which there are about 30 species in nature, some of which are widely used in culture. So far, there is no single classification of this genus, since, in addition to natural species, various hybrids are also quite common, formed both by natural crossing and through the efforts of cultivators.

Most of them are represented by several varieties. The natural environment for the growth of lilacs are the mountainous regions of Eurasia. Common and Hungarian lilacs grow in the Balkans and the Carpathians, Persian lilacs grow in the west of the Himalayas, and all other species grow in Japan, Korea, Primorye, the Amur Region, and, especially, in China.

Lilac varieties

Varieties and varieties of lilacs are usually combined according to the main quality that has become the subject of popular adoration - the most beautiful flowers with a unique strong aroma. Small and very fragrant funnel-shaped flowers with four lobes form relatively large panicle inflorescences.

Other signs can also vary in a fairly wide range, for example, trees can also be found among shrubs, and the foliage can be oval or lanceolate with pointed tips, dissected and pinnate, but they cannot be decisive against the background of such a stormy and lush flowering.

All ordinary lilacs are characterized by relatively large flowers (from 1 cm in diameter). In other species they are smaller. The most famous and popular is the same common lilac, which almost everyone has seen somewhere in a park or in someone's summer cottage. It has been cultivated since the middle of the 16th century, as a result of which today it has a great variety of varieties.

One of the most original and sought after - red lilac Moscow with double lilac-pink flowers of a mother-of-pearl shade, 2.5 cm in diameter, forming 25-centimeter pyramids of inflorescences.

- bright and showy, with red-lilac flowers up to 2.2 cm in diameter, collected in wide and dense pyramid-panicles.

Variety lilac sensation stands out for the presence of a pronounced white edging on dark lilac flowers of the same diameter as the previous variety (the size of the inflorescences is approximately 20 cm).

It is unique in its color characteristics - its buds are painted in a greenish-yellow color, and the flowers are cream-yellow, and, when fading in the sun, the petals often turn white.

Ordinary also includes hyacinth flower lilac and Chinese lilac . The varieties and the species itself of the first are distinguished by early flowering, and the second is a natural hybrid with even larger inflorescences compared to ordinary lilacs with a smaller bush as a whole.

Bred varieties of Chinese lilacs (including double flowers) in conditions close to the climate of Moscow can partially freeze slightly, although if there is no particularly strong cold, they develop well.

In the Russian Federation, the Hungarian lilac is endowed with a special status immediately after the common lilac. It is not valued so much, but is grown everywhere, mainly in cities. The flowering of the Hungarian begins a month later, and it is characterized by stability and unpretentiousness, worthy of admiration - it easily tolerates drought, soaking, shading, oversaturation of the air with gases and is able to withstand 40-degree cold.

Lilac Zvegintsova (hairy ), which include hairy lilac (hairy ), their appearance is so reminiscent of the Hungarian that only a specialist can distinguish them. They are characterized by oval foliage, pointed at the ends, with hairs or cilia on the veins and edges. The flowers of these lilacs are smaller in comparison with the common lilac, but the bushes are wider, higher (up to 5 meters) and with thicker trunks. All have good frost resistance.

pinnate lilacs

Present persian lilac and a number of others. Together with ovate-lanceolate, she comes across pinnately dissected leaves. Of the lilacs included in this group, the Persian is almost the only one capable of developing normally in the Russian middle lane.

Of particular interest is the hybrid dwarf persian lilac , the aroma of flowers of which is noticeably different from other species, and growth does not exceed 2 meters. During the flowering period from mid-May to the end of June, white, red or purple flowers envelop the dwarf Persian lilac.

fluffy lilacs

Such as the Meyer's lilac , have a thin layer of pubescence on foliage and inflorescences, consisting of small, but very fragrant, flowers. All fluffy lilacs are characterized by prettiness and originality, which are emphasized by the small size of the bush (up to 1.5 meters in height). They decorate gardens and rockeries very cool, but they are not so winter-hardy as to survive hard winters.

In particular, for the variety meyer's lilac palibin warm Turkey is considered to be the native growth environment, from where it was brought. In addition to the small dimensions of the bush, this variety is also distinguished by relatively small inflorescences (10 cm long), formed from pink-lilac flowers with a subtle lilac hue. Flowering of Meyer's lilac begins in May and lasts for 1-2 months.

tree lilac

A separate place in the classification belongs to tree-like lilacs. One of the members of this group is Amur lilac allocated by some researchers to another genus. The reason for this was the fact that although the fruits are characterized by signs of the genus of the same name, the flowers are more similar to those of plants of the genus Privet.

Large inflorescences of the Amur lilac are composed of small creamy white flowers with elongated yellowish stamens. The height of some shrubs and trees can reach 10 meters, the foliage is rounded with pointed tips. Tree-like lilacs bloom in summer (a couple of weeks after the Hungarian), they are resistant to frost and environmental pollution, but they can hardly endure severe drought.

Lagerstroemia indica

which many call " Indian lilac ”, even taking into account the fact that it does not belong to this family or to the order, it is characterized by dimensional flowers, painted in white, pink, raspberry or purple. Her foliage is oval, and her height is up to 10 meters.

Based on the name, it can be assumed that the birthplace of this plant is India, however, in fact, it is the tropics of China. Evergreen ornamental smooth-bore bushes of Indian lilacs are perfect for decorating parks and greenhouses.

Lilac planting and care in the open field

For growing lilacs, it is better to choose a lighted area, covered from strong winds. It is not recommended to land on low, swampy and flooded areas at certain times of the year. The slightest moisture stagnation can adversely affect the development of a young plant root system.

The most favorable period for planting is mid-July - early September, the weather is cloudy, evening time. At what distance from each other to plant seedlings depends on which variety / species was chosen - it can be from 2 to 3 meters.

We also offer for reading, apple tree planting and care in the open field. She can become a worthy decoration of the garden and, in addition, bring a good and healthy harvest. You will find all recommendations for growing and maintaining in this article.

Watering lilacs

Having planted a lilac, it must be watered abundantly in the near-trunk zone. In the future, frequent watering will be needed at the time of flowering and growth of the stems, on summer days they are performed only in extreme heat.

Soil for lilac

Soil requirements are as follows: moderate moisture, fertility, drainage and high humus content. Lilac prefers weak acidity or neutrality of the soil and low standing groundwater.

The walls of the planting pits must be sheer, and the equally distributed volume of the pit must not exceed 50 cubic meters. cm in medium-fertile soil, 100 cu. cm - in poor, sandy. The basis of the soil is made up of humus or compost (15-20 kg), wood ash (200-300 grams) and superphosphate (20-30 grams).

Due to the fact that the final component contributes to soil acidification, in the case of acidic soils, this effect must be neutralized by a 2-fold increase in the portion of ash (the optimal acidity range is considered to be 6.6-7.5).

The soil components must be thoroughly mixed, then, after planting, mulching with peat or semi-rotted leaves per layer of 5-7 cm. It is recommended to loosen the near-stem soil 3-4 times during the growing season 4-7 cm deep.

Lilac transplant

It is advisable to transplant lilacs in the 2nd half of summer, however, if the temperature is too high, it is better to transfer it to the beginning of autumn. Spring and autumn are not quite suitable for this procedure, because then the plants take root in new areas worse.

From the preparatory work, with the onset of summer, it is necessary to dig a groove with a depth approximately equal to the estimated volume of an earthen clod, and cut off the roots extending in width. To accelerate the growth of young roots, nutritious fertile soil is poured into the pit.

If you need to transplant several lilacs at once into one area, then you need to maintain a distance between them, again, depending on the variety / species, but the general recommendation is a distance of at least 150 cm. Again, just like when planting, it is better to do This is on a cloudy day or in the evening.

For transplantation, specimens with developed and healthy roots with a length of at least 25-30 cm are selected. Before planting a transplanted lilac, its crown must be cut into 2-3 pairs of buds. Pruning is also applicable to the roots, from which painful and damaged ones should be completely excluded. The root neck of the transplanted plant should be level with the soil surface.

After planting, it is worth moistening the soil abundantly and mulching 5-7 cm. Subsequent care measures are reduced to regular loosening of the near-stem soil 5-7 cm deep.

Fertilizers for lilacs

Nitrogen fertilizers are applied from the 2nd year at 50-60 grams (urea) or 65-80 grams (ammonium nitrate) per season. Organics are quite effective, for example, slurry in the amount of 1-3 buckets per tree / bush, and ash is considered the most suitable complex top dressing for lilacs, 200 grams of which are diluted in 8 liters of water.

Lilac pruning

The beauty of the form and rich flowering every year are achieved by experienced gardeners due to the correct pruning of the bush. Until the lilac is 3 years old, it does not need pruning, while at the age of 3-4, a branch skeleton begins to form in it.

And from now on, at the beginning of spring, before the buds begin to awaken, 5-10 branches that are optimally suited for the location are selected in the crown, and the rest are cut off. There is also some benefit in cutting up to 70% of flowering stems for bouquets - in this case, the rest will begin to develop at an accelerated pace.

Young lilac should not be left for the winter without covering it in the near-trunk area. Peat and dried leaves are used as a cover (the layer is not thicker than 10 cm).

Lilac reproduction

Reproduction of wild-growing species of lilacs is carried out using seeds. Sowing procedures are usually carried out in autumn or spring after a 2-month stratification of seeds in a temperature regime of 2 to 5℃.

For varietal lilacs, cuttings or propagation by layering are used. Rooting of green cuttings is dependent on humidity (required - 95-100%) and temperature (suitable - 23-25 ℃). The soil mixture will require peat and sand (2: 1).

Before planting, the cuttings must be treated in indolylbutyric acid (a solution of 40-50 grams in 1 liter of water) throughout the day. Harvest cuttings of an early flowering variety should be at the beginning of flowering, late - during mass flowering. As usual, this is done in the process of forming pruning, simultaneously cutting off the tops of the stems (above the last pair of buds) into cuttings.

Diseases and pests

If appeared on lilac leaves white coating , so it is affected by powdery mildew. In such cases, the leaves are sprayed 5 times at weekly intervals with fungicides (alternately) strobi (a solution of 20-30 g in 10 liters of water), quadris (6 ml for the same volume of water), topaz (25/10) and topsin m (80/10). This disease can be prevented by avoiding wetting the leaves during irrigation.

For necrosis (burns) during cool, damp times tops of young stems and leaves wither , a shoots turn black , as a result of which the lilac becomes similar to burnt. It is recommended to fight this by spraying Bordeaux liquid with 2-3 repetitions after 10-14 days.

If there is foliage twisting with its preliminary yellowing, then browning and subsequent fall already at the beginning of summer, this indicates a small volume of roots compared to the overgrown crown.

Lilac bloom delay can be caused by too high acidity of the soil. The above care techniques prevent this problem, but if they were not applied during planting / transplanting, it is never too late to saturate the soil with ash or make rotted compost.

Lilac leaves medicinal properties and contraindications

Not many people know how many healing qualities the common lilac has. Its various elements contain: essential oil, sinigrin, phenoglycoside, farnesol. There are many drugs with antipyretic, antimicrobial and analgesic actions, including these compounds.

In folk medicine, foliage, buds and flowers have been used. The latter are harvested during the flowering period before they begin to crumble. The collection of foliage for ingestion is carried out at the same time, and the buds should be collected when they swell.

Ointment based on dry leaves , its juice and powder from the kidneys are used in the prevention of neuralgic disorders, arthritis, sciatica. To prepare it, you will need to mix the collected parts of the plant with petroleum jelly or butter in proportions of 1: 4. An infusion made from flowers helps to cope with bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and cough.

Lilac flower tincture : a glass of flowers should be poured with 250 grams of boiling water, leave for an hour, strain, and you can use a tablespoon 3-4 times a day.

Lilac tincture on vodka / alcohol gives good results in joint problems. The recipe for its preparation is quite simple - immediately after collecting 100 grams of flowers and lilac leaves, we put it in a glass vessel with a lid with a volume of 1 liter, fill it with alcohol or vodka until it is filled, cork it and put it in the dark for 10 days. After the specified time, we filter the tincture through a 4-layer gauze.

Lilac always captivates with its splendor and wonderful aroma. It is impossible to pass by such splendor and not break a twig to enjoy the fresh smell longer.

It's great if such a bush is already growing on your site - you have the opportunity to admire this beauty and inhale the finest aroma, charging you with a wonderful mood for the whole day.

And if it is not yet in your garden, then it's time to start selecting a variety and planting.

There is no need to be afraid, even if you are still a beginner gardener. This is such an unpretentious shrub that even a beginner can handle planting and caring for it in the open field.

And if we take into account its winter hardiness and drought resistance, then we can understand that caring for lilacs is not difficult.

But, although there is nothing difficult in growing a shrub and further propagating it, there are certain rules that should be followed in order to grow a healthy, fragrant bush.

Over the past 150 years, breeders around the world have bred more than 2,200 lilac hybrids. The basis for selection is, as a rule, common lilac.

Hybrids are distinguished by:

Despite these differences, the growing conditions and growing methods for all varieties and hybrids are almost the same.

This species is very popular among the people. But it often turns out that other varieties are also called Persian lilacs. The question arises: is there really such a variety?

It turns out, yes, it really exists. It was brought out in 1640, crossing the small-cut lilac with the Afghan lilac. The varietal standard is now kept in London.

The bush grows quite quickly, but it cannot boast of a special scope - its average height is 1-2 m, and this is about 1/3 lower than bushes of other varieties.

This circumstance led to the fact that another word appeared in the name of the variety - Dwarf Persian lilac.

However, these compact shrubs do well in small areas, adding variety to garden plantings or acting as a hedge.

The yellow color of the petals is absolutely unusual for the common lilac.

But since 1949, breeders from Holland have been breeding a new variety based on Marie Legraye, which they called Primrose (Primrose).

In the future, this variety received another name - Yellow Wonder (Yellow miracle). This is the first and so far the only type of lilac in the world with such an unusual color of flowers.

Still, it was not possible to achieve a pronounced yellow color, a distinct yellowness is noticeable only on the buds.

Blooming inflorescences are cream, vanilla, waxy, and soon become almost white. This is due to the snow-white color of the mother variety.

Yellow lilac reaches a height of 3-3.5 m, blooms longer than other species (from mid-May to late June), the bush is abundantly covered with pyramidal inflorescences (up to 20 cm in length), having 2-3 tops, the petals have a diameter of up to 1 .5 cm. Primrose is distinguished by a stronger aroma.

Among the Far Eastern lilacs, there are also species with a similar cream color. For example, Amur lilac or Treskun.

This plant is quite powerful and tall. In the harsh climate of the Far East, this species grows in the wild up to 20 m in height, although in gardens the height does not exceed half, that is, it grows up to 10 m.

Amur lilac is a long-lived tree, its life expectancy is about a century.

The Chinese lilac was first discovered not in China, as the name suggests, but in France, in the botanical garden of Rouen, at the end of the 18th century.

The morphological characteristics of the variety have much in common with the Persian lilac, so it is completely incomprehensible where this name came from.

The only difference from the Persian one is in the height of the bush, in the Chinese one it reaches 6 m.

It blooms with pinkish-purple flowers, the diameter of which is about 2 cm.

Inflorescences are often formed into a complex panicle, the length of which reaches 0.6-0.8 m, and which many call the "fox tail".

Luxurious lilac Monique Lemoine was bred one of the last in the collection of varieties by Lemoine breeders in 1939.

A two-meter bush has a compact upright crown, decorated with large white inflorescences with pointed petals.

These inflorescences usually have more than four corollas.

Monique Lemoine can be safely called the most terry of all white lilacs. The lilac Taras Bulba is close to her in terms of terryness.

Lilac Preston obtained by crossing two types of lilac: drooping and hairy.

This hybrid got its name in honor of its creator, the first female breeder in Canada, Isabella Preston.

Tall (about 4 meters), strong, branched bush has increased resistance in culture, frost resistance and a special decorative effect.

Meyer's lilac comes from the Olive family, which has natural and hybrid subspecies, about 40 names.

Lilac flowering begins in early May, ends at the end of June.

The height of the bush varies from 1.5 to 10 meters, depending on the variety, but, basically, it is an undersized dwarf lilac.

Thanks to this quality, it is possible to give the bush a standard shape, which will add an extraordinary decorative effect to your site.

Life expectancy is about 90 years.

A feature of this variety is an unusually strong aroma.

The plant grows on any soil, reconciles with a lack of moisture, endures frost. Therefore, the popularity of this lilac is so high among the inhabitants of central Russia, with a climate, such as, for example, in the Moscow region.

Another valuable advantage of Meyer's lilac over other species is that it blooms twice in a summer.

True, the second flowering, which occurs in the second half of August, is not so plentiful, however, it is always nice to admire the blooming lilac in the garden at an unusual time of the year for it.

Other varieties have the same qualities, for example, hybrid lilac Josie, Boomerang Ash.

Place and soil in the garden for planting lilacs

Drought resistance and winter hardiness of lilac can envy any shrub. However, she, like most plants, loves to bask in the warm sunshine.

It can grow in the shade, but the bush will be weakened, the shoots will begin to stretch in search of the sun, it will, of course, bloom, but not as plentifully as in a sunny place.

Excessively flooded and swampy places are not for her.

A large amount of water after the snow has melted in spring has a negative effect on the plant, it feels depressed, development stops, and if it blooms, the flowers will be faded and underdeveloped.

Try to protect the lilac in the country from drafts and strong winds. A sharp gust of wind can simply break newly planted lilac seedlings.

The best place for lilacs is not far from the fence, near the wall of some building or country house.

The plant has no special requirements for the composition of the soil, it grows well on poor soil. But still, it is better if the soil for lilacs is slightly alkaline.

Landing Time

Lilac planting, as well as its transplantation, can be carried out in late summer or early autumn, but many gardeners try to plant lilacs in the spring, immediately after the snow melts, in order to be in time before the buds open.

If the buds on the seedling have begun to awaken, postpone planting in open ground until the end of August.

Keep in mind. Due to the fact that it is possible to miss the appropriate planting date, purchase seedlings for planting in the spring not with an open, but with a closed root system, so that they can be successfully stored until autumn.

You can also transplant lilacs to another place in July, when the flowering period ends and the shrub falls into a dormant state.

The best time for planting is considered to be the beginning of September, when it is still warm enough and there is no threat of frost.

The seedling will take root well and get stronger before winter, and in the spring it will give all its strength to its development, and not to rooting.

planting material

Carefully consider the choice of planting material. First of all, pay attention to the roots, they should not be dry and brittle.

Tips for choosing seedlings (using an apple tree as an example)

Signs of a healthy root system:

elasticity;
branching;
diameter must be at least 0.3 m.

Advice. Buy seedlings in a specialized store or in a nursery - this is a guarantee of the quality and health of the planting material.

When buying, conduct a small test for the viability of a seedling: bend one of the thin small roots.

If it has broken and darkened, then this plant is not worth buying, since the root has already dried up.

Another test is the state of the cortex. Lightly scratch the bark with your fingernail, the green color indicates that the seedling is quite viable. A brown or gray color indicates a disease of the plant, it is better not to buy it.

A healthy and strong tree should be at least 0.5 m in height and have 3-6 skeletal branches.

Lilac planting scheme

Properly prepare the site for planting: remove all weeds and dig. Mix humus (1.5 buckets), superphosphate (2 tablespoons) and wood ash (2 stacks) - this substrate is enough for one hole, you will need it during planting.

If the acidity of the soil is increased, add 2 more cups of ash.

Carefully inspect the seedlings, they should not have damaged and dry parts of the roots.

Before you start preparing the site, put the seedlings in a bucket of water, adding a root-forming preparation there so that the plant can better tolerate acclimatization.

Proceed to planting in cloudy weather or in the evening:

Dig a hole. Its size depends on the fertility of the soil. If the fertility is high, 0.3 m deep is enough, on poor land, make the size 1m x 1m.
Lay the bottom of the hole with broken bricks or large pebbles - this is drainage.
Pour the prepared substrate so that you get a mound.
Place the seedling on top of the mound, spreading the roots down. Do not deepen the root neck, it should protrude 3-4 cm above the ground.
Fill the hole with the excavated soil, tamp down a little and water well.
Mulch the trunk circle.

The most optimal distance between lilac seedlings is at least three meters.

Care for lilacs in the open field

In order for the lilac bush to please with its appearance and wonderful aroma, give it a little of your attention and care.

After all, only by creating good conditions for lilacs, you will get what you planted it for.

Watering

If the seedling is planted in the spring, then water more often and more in the first year, especially during the dry summer period.

But do not forget that lilac does not tolerate too much moisture.

An adult bush does not need frequent watering. But in hot, dry weather, she will be happy with regular moderate watering.

If the foliage on the bush is dusty and has lost its decorative effect, give it a water shower, the lilac loves this procedure. During flowering, of course, this should not be done.

Be sure to water the lilacs in September, pouring 3 buckets of water under the root per bush. This will help her survive the harsh winter.

top dressing

Proper and timely feeding of lilacs will ensure lush and long flowering.

In the first 3 years of life, provided that the pit was well filled with fertilizers when planting, additional feeding is not required.

The only fertilizer for lilacs that can be applied after the snow melts is ammonium nitrate or urea. They contain nitrogen, which will help to quickly increase the green mass.

In the 4th year, introduce organic top dressing. You can feed with mullein infusion, diluting 1 liter of infusion in a bucket of water.

How to feed lilacs in autumn? In the autumn, she needs phosphorus-potassium fertilizer.

When you dig up the ground under a bush, throw a couple of tablespoons of superphosphate and the same amount of potassium nitrate per plant.

Liquid top dressing is also suitable: dilute a faceted glass of ash in a bucket of water and water the bush.

pruning

To make the lilac bush look neat and even elegant, you need to periodically trim it.

The very rapid growth of shoots leads to the fact that there is a feeling of some slovenliness and "shaggy" when looking at the plant.

In addition, the bush is too thick, which negatively affects its development and flowering.

All flowers will form only at the very tips of the branches, and the center of the bush will be without inflorescences.

If it is not cut out, then after 3-5 years it will run wild and the process of degeneration will start.

Many gardeners are convinced that it is imperative to break off all flowering branches in order to ensure more lush flowering next year. This is an erroneous opinion.

Roughly breaking off the branches, you plunge the plant into a state of stress. But pruning lilacs, performed according to the rules, will bring nothing but good.

Crown formation begins only in the third year of the seedling's life. Until this time, he is not disturbed, waiting for the skeleton to fully form.

The most suitable time is early spring, until the sap flow begins and the kidneys wake up.

Mark the strongest and most beautiful branches, about 5-7 pieces, which are equally spaced from each other. Leave them, and delete everything else without regret. The next year, cut the flowering branches in half, shorten the rest of the shoots to 8 buds too.

On a note. When carrying out formative pruning, sanitary pruning is also usually done, when all dry or damaged branches, as well as diseased shoots, are removed.

If you form a crown on an adult bush, then do not prune in the spring, as the plant may simply not bloom from the resulting stress.

Do it at the final stage of flowering to prevent the bush from weakening and give it the opportunity to lay new buds.

To begin with, remove faded panicles so that the shrub does not waste energy on feeding them, but directs it to young shoots.

Then shorten all long branches by 1/3.

Excess root shoots should also be removed.

If you want to limit the width of the bush, remove frail and thin side shoots.

Ultimately, you will be able to admire a compact plant with a "combed" crown.

This pruning should be done regularly.

Treatment for diseases and pests

Lilac has good resistance to diseases and harmful insects. But sometimes we ourselves are to blame for the lilac disease. The reason may be violations of the rules of agricultural technology, due to which the plant's immunity is weakened.

For example, vascular wilt or Fusarium is preceded by improperly selected soil and deepening of the root collar during planting.

From a lack of potassium in the soil, root rot develops, ugly spots appear on the leaves.

Soil acidification, waterlogging, too much nitrogen fertilizer, wounds on branches - all this causes rotting of the shoots.

A weakened plant can easily become infected with fungal or bacterial infections, especially if it is young bushes.

It is impossible to get rid of viral and mycoplasmal diseases. There is only one way out - to uproot the bush and burn it, disinfecting the site.

Chemical preparations sold at any garden center will help against acacia false scales, lilac leaf mites, cicadas, weevils, moths, lilac moths, hawks and other pests.

Lilac reproduction

Reproduction of lilac occurs with the help of:

seed;
Cherenkov;
Root growth.

Each method has its own specifics, which we will discuss below.

seeds

This method is quite laborious, so gardeners usually do not use it.

It is used in nurseries to obtain planting material from the desired variety.

The technology is very simple:

collect lilac seeds from the selected plant;
stratify them for 2 months in a damp cloth in the refrigerator;
in late autumn or early spring, sow them for seedlings;
pick up in separate containers;
with the onset of heat, land in the ground.

cuttings

In the summer, when the bush is still blooming, or when flowering has just ended, you need to prepare cuttings.

Find a young non-lignified shoot located inside a bush with 2-3 nodes and cut it with an oblique cut, while the top cut should be straight.

Remove the leaves from the lower end of the cutting and put it in water with a root-forming preparation for 15-16 hours.

Then plant in a pot with soil, cover with a jar, put in the shade, not forgetting to water periodically.

After a couple of months, when the first roots form, do regular ventilation by removing the jar.

You can plant in open ground until August, if until this time the planting has not taken place, then leave the cuttings to grow until spring.

Root growth

This is the easiest and most reliable way to reproduce. How it's done:

Choose a non-lignified shoot.
Make a shallow groove.
Lay a bent shoot in it so that the top remains on top of the ground.
Fix the escape with a hairpin.
Water regularly and remove weeds around it.
Closer to autumn, separate from the main bush and plant the finished seedling in the selected area.

To protect a young seedling from frost, cover it before the onset of winter with a layer of needles or dry leaves.

Making a lilac hedge

For this purpose, undersized (dwarf) lilac, for example, Meyer or Amur, is best suited. Plant bushes at intervals of 1.5 m.

The next year, the young shoots of one plant must be intertwined with the same shoots of another bush and, to be sure, tied them.

In a year or two, individual bushes will turn into a thick green mass, which can already be cut.

If you want to get a flowering hedge, leave the height of the bush at least 1.3-1.8 m.

Bushes 1.0-1.4 m high will not bloom.

Such a fence will protect you from prying eyes, from the penetration of animals, and even uninvited guests, into your site, and will simply become a decoration of the garden.

We recommend to know:

According to an ancient Scandinavian legend, after the union of the rainbow and the sun, the first lilac bushes appeared on earth, an unpretentious and cultivated plant that adorns any area with its lush and magnificent flowering in spring.

Decorative perennial is not difficult to grow and even easier to use in landscape design, because after flowering, the dense crown of the bush creates a favorable shade, and the leaves remain green until autumn, lilac care is quite simple and can be planted near the house and in front gardens.

Selection of seedlings for planting

Independent planting of lilacs begins with the choice of a plant variety, of which there are a huge variety, and they differ in the size of the brushes and the flowers that form them, which are distinguished by a rich palette of shades and tones.

The choice of seedlings must be approached as responsibly as possible, they must be as viable as possible, good planting material has a well-developed root system in combination with several pairs of developed buds, which will ensure normal rooting and growth of the bush.

Disembarkation period: what is important to consider when choosing

Before studying the information on how to plant lilacs, it is necessary to choose the right season for planting, it is better to do this in early spring, immediately after the frozen soil thaws, which will ensure good rooting and strengthening of the horse system even before the hot summer.

For the timely and proper development of flowers, the lilac needs additional, but not complicated care, if planting is carried out in the fall, it is important to take care of the shelter of the rooted cutting and its mandatory protection, for which covering material is used.

How to choose the right landing site

To make it easier to understand how to care for lilacs and facilitate the care process, it is important to choose the right landing site, the shrub will bloom luxuriantly in good light, but in the hot season it will need shelter from the scorching sun.

It is better to plant a bush on hills where cold air does not accumulate, providing a prepared drainage system to remove excess moisture and not using dressing mixtures for additional soil fertilization, especially acidified.

Self-planting lilac bushes

Having decided when to plant lilacs, you can proceed to the event by choosing the evening time of the day or cloudy weather, which will favorably affect the rooting of the plant, the planting pit should be larger than the already formed root system.

After filling up the pit with the seedling, it is important to tamp the soil and water until the moisture is completely absorbed, one bucket of water per bush is enough for good moistening, after the soil dries out, it can be loosened no deeper than 5-7 cm, to avoid oxygen starvation.

Fertilizers for rooting and growth of bushes

An ornamental shrub is not demanding on fertilizers, but knowing how to feed the lilac after flowering can lay the foundation for its good development and subsequent vegetation, so it is better to fertilize the soil at the cut.

For this, organic fertilizers or composite mixtures with a certain content of nitrogen-potassium compounds are used, but it is important to avoid increasing the acidic environment in the soil, which can lead to weakening or death of the root system that feeds the entire bush and affects the formation of color.

Proper holding of a plant sample

Cultivated lilac, the care of which is not complicated enough, requires mandatory pruning, for this two types of spring and summer procedures are used, in spring it is carried out before flowering and includes cutting branches and shoots.

In summer, after complete flowering, empty inflorescences with seeds are cut off, it is not recommended to cut thick branches, this can cause the development of various diseases, which will lead to the death of the entire bush, it is also necessary to carefully work with shoots that will not be frost-resistant after cutting.

Crown shaping: features and techniques

Novice gardeners really like lilacs, planting and care in the open field do not require much effort, and the lush flowering of the plant is pleasing to the eye and helps to decorate the site, but to give it beauty, it is necessary to properly form the crown.

At the same time, side shoot pruning techniques are used, thanks to which it is possible to form a lush shrub, a single-stemmed tree or a hedge from a densely growing lilac, while pruning should not be abused, it can cause the active development of non-flowering side shoots.

Getting rid of diseases and pests is very simple, for this, preventive treatments are regularly carried out with special solutions, and garden lilacs, planting and caring for which will be a real pleasure, will delight you with lush flowering at the end of spring.