newbie

[cometz]

hi. i am a gardener who has been without a garden for 10 years. now i have some small beds in less than ideal conditions but i am thrilled to be digging and planting. in a field near my apt. i saw a beautiful low lying lilac. probably no taller than 4 feet but well developed, very wide (perhaps 12 feet) with quite pale purple flowers and this lovely silvery furry sort of halo throughout the whole bush. two questions... can anyone recommend a site that will show pics of the full shrub, not just the blossoms? and is there a way to snip a small shoot from this plant with any hope of it surviving? what i have read about propagating lilacs says i would have to dig into the root structure and remove a section. i am not going to do this for fear of sickening the plant and besides, it is just so perfect sitting in a field as if it were left behind by some outer space gardener.

anyway, any help would be hugely appreciated.

betsy

[Val]

If you can't dig up a sucker your next best bet might be air layering. It's pretty simple. First you need to pick the part of the plant that you would like. Then cut a slit at an angle 1/3 of the way through the stem just below good, healthy leaf growth. Hold this slit open with a toothpick and dust the cut with a rooting hormone. Take a length of plastic wrap and secure with a twist tie or string around the stem below the cut you have just made. Fill this pocket with a big handful of moistened peat moss and wrap the rest of the plastic around it making sure to over lap, and seal it to the stem above the cut with another tie. Use waterproof tape to seal the over-lapped edges of the plastic. Make sure the peat moss is in good tight contact with the cut you have made. Keep the peat moss moist during the rooting process by opening the pocket at the top and adding water when required. When roots are visible in the peat moss, cut the stem off below the root mass and pot up.

Val

[cometz]

thanks so much. i can manage this. i hope the plant does. it's a beauty. very very lovely plant.

betsy