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Old lilac tree in bloom

Indiana Gardener

Got Drosera?
I don't know how old they are, but the two lilac trees that are here must be practically ancient. They have huge trunks that are all gnarled and split showing lots of character. The rain finally let up this morning after waiting three days to get some pics. So here they are. Spring is finally here! :-D

About the bird in it - His tail is still hanging in there at 4 Ft. His longest two juvenile feathers have dried up, but were not molted. Everything else in his tail is growing out as adult plumage. His saddle feathers are still growing and currently measure 27.25". His soft texture shows especially good in the bottom photo.

hakuraikou-5-1-2009.jpg
 
didnt know lilacs would form trees like that.......im actually ripping out 5, 8 foot tall lilac bushes this weekend.....
 
didnt know lilacs would form trees like that.......

Apparently they do if they're old enough. This house is a 100 yr old farm house. Who knows, they could have been here since then.

im actually ripping out 5, 8 foot tall lilac bushes this weekend.....

They'll never get to reach their full potential. :( Give them to someone local instead of trashing them.
 
gotta figure the climate here is alot more harsh......ive seen some 60 year old lilacs and their trunks wernt any bigger than my wrist and they were about 12 foot tall.......

as for giving them to someone....everyone seems to have lilacs.....these ones are getting tore up cause their roots are getting into my neighbors sewer line.....and given the smell of the blooms trigger my wife's migraines on occasion they just need to go.....ive got some rose bushes tp put in their place instead..... besides they are next to a concrete sidewalk and they aint going to come out nicely.....
 
I can understand that then. Not worth the trouble. I can't even think about growing most roses here. The wild roses do fine, but the Japanese beetles eat hybrid roses down to nothing in no time flat.
 
no japanese beetles here but it gets so cold in the winter im pretty well limited to wild type and shrub roses........hybrid teas are considered an annual
 
uhhh lilac trees! I love them, my old house used to be filled with all the colors imaginable, every spring it would fill the backyard, with colorful flowers, and a delicious smell, good times.
 
That's just a real old common lilac, there are a few back in Huron that big, and one or two on campus that are huge. Still sort of a shrub, and the big branches die back after a time to be replaced by suckers. I think the biggest one I have seen is half-dead now but there are more branches sprouting below it to take in the now-available light under it.

Now Syringa reticulata, Japanese tree lilac, is a real, true tree and is quite beautiful, and the foliage never gets diseased like some other lilacs. Great tree, though the flower smell is not-so nice it LOOKS awesome.


And that's an awesome bird! What breed is it?
 
Japanese tree lilac

Such a nice lilac and that Rooster adds to the beauty of it.
 
  • #10
This one doesn't seem to sucker a whole lot. I've seen some smaller ones around that sucker all over the place. It is just the common ol' vulgaris, but ones this size are very uncommon here.

For comparison, that's not exactly a small bird. He's between 3 and 4 Lbs and stands around 18" tall.

S. reticulata is just 'ok' in my opinion. I had one and it got to about 2 Ft hight. I saw the parent plant. It was well over 20 Ft and full of booms. It really didn't impress me though. The person was determined I was going to take one and I appreciated the gesture. I planted it and it croaked the next yr. No big loss.

The reason it didn't impress me was that it completely lacked character. The trunk was perfectly straight and the entire tree was symmetric. The only way I would ever have another would be if I would get another young one, contort it myself, and keep it trimmed as a niwaki. The one I had yrs ago was too young to work on yet.
 
  • #11
I think that it was never given a chance. Just as with vulgaris, character is something that comes with age to S. reticulata as it does with most woody plants. If you have ever seen a truly old S. reticulata, it is anything but smooth and symmetric. Character is not something that usually comes to a young plant!
 
  • #12
Character is not something that usually comes to a young plant!

Not naturally anyway, but there are ways to get it. :-D
 
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