The Last of the Lilacs
I am going to miss the lilac season. Nothing can inspire garden work more than being surrounded with plants that smell good. Long gone are the blooms and fragrant grandma type lilacs. Years ago our Pamida Store was weary of watering their garden hoop plants and of course I had to scope it out. I brought home the Miss Kim Lilac that looked more like a cast off that had been sitting next to the Christmas Tree that Charlie Brown had chosen in times past. One stem had some snap to it when I bent it over. The remaining ones broke off right down into the root ball.
The Miss Kim Lilac Tree
I had been doing some reading and knew that with vigilant pruning of sucker sprouts that come from the base of a shrub a tree could be developed from what had been sold as a shrub. The wonderful aspect of Miss Kim is that she blooms a bit later so the season of a great smelling yard can be expanded. The blossoms are a delicate lavender that often passes as white. The grandma lilacs that I have show bold blossoms and Miss Kim’s have a look of lace.
This morning I was out splitting some of my hosta and Miss Kim kept me going with inspiration in spite of the big black flies that would bite. I applied two different bug sprays, one complete with deet, and they just seemed to lick it off my legs before they feasted.
As I was on the highway last weekend I did spy my next year greenhouse score: a late blooming lilac that had blossoms of red. I do brake for plants — after I check my rear-view mirror.