LILAC TREES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 660, 11 May 1929, Page 30

LILAC TREES

There is ao more attractive shrub in the garden than a well-flowered lilac hush. The wild lilac, syringa vulgaris, is a native shrub of the mountain slopes of Eastern Europe. Lilacs have been cultivated in British gardens for more than three hundred years. They probably came to us by way of France, for the French gardeners liavb always been expert lilac cultivators and raisers of new varieties, and they still send out new ones, as is indicated by the name. A frequent complaint among amateur gardeners is that the lilac bushes do not flower, or, at least, -only with poor results. To obtain really good results, the ground for lilacs should be ■ trenched two feet deep and man-

ured. It is useless just to plant the bushes in the shrubbery border, leaving them to grow more or less as they please. The surface soil of a wellkept shrubbery border should be cultivated and kept free of weeds. Give a mulch of decayed manure after flowering in alternate years. In the other years water several times with liquid manure or apply a scattering of bone meal. , It is important to remove the old blooms when they fade to prevent seeding. Also cut out w r eak twigs and thin the branches freely, w T here crowded, to let in light and air to ripen the wood. If very numerous, thin the new shoots after flowering, removing the weakest ones. Lilacs are best propagated by layering; a few of the lower branches are bent down and fastened in the soil with wooden pegs.