A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees Potted Lilac bush

we moved in 2004/5 (I get confusded--we moved 12-26-07--

in the fall before we moved I dug up a start of my DD lilac bush and potted it. It is still in a large pot. I babied it from a 2 inch start to what it is now--about a 4 ft+ bush-ette. I kept it in the house year round the first few years--then last summer I put it out in the spring & kept it out. When winter came I put it between the house/deck & air conditioning unit. I brought it bsack to teh front of the house thsi summer--it is doing well.

My question---- it is more than time to do something--I cannot put it bck behind the air conditioning unit because it is getting too big for the DH to lift back out in the spring.--where do I keep it?? on my front porch (under roof), no sides to porch--or do I put it in my shed--it has a window?? or the garage?/ now---if I put it inside==do I water it and if so , how much & how often---
If I leave it out in the cold unprotected won't it freeze & die?? Last year I put it behind the deck/air con. unit because I figured it would be kept from freezing (and it did)--and it got watered when it rained--but now I am in a delimma--help !!

Carol, any chance of getting someone to plant it for you? Even if you want to dig it out and repot it in the spring.

You could also put it in the unheated garage and water it once a month depending on the temp where you live.

They are so hardy I would try to put a thick piece of styrofoam under the pot.(I use this stuff for everything). You can use a old styro cooler to build it up off the ground. By doing this it is not sitting on the cold ground and offers insulation.

Put drainage holes in the foam so water will run through but not freeze around the pot. Put more styro around the pot.

Surround the pot with leaves or pine needles.

I know I am not decribing this good. What it should look like is a styrofoam enclosed area with mounded leaves or pine needles.

I kept a lot of things alive through the winter doing using styro and pine needles.

I second tamara's suggestion. Get its roots underground while you can still work the soil. lilac is very cold hardy, and should be dormant now. Seeing as how late it is,I suggest you mulch around it to prevent frost heave as spring arrives.

lilacs grow all over up here, roadsides too. I have several of them. They are hardy to zone 3 in Canada. I can grow one in a pot on the patio here and just leave it all winter long and it's fine, so I don't think you need to worry about it freezing.

Don't bring it in the house, it needs the dormant, extreme cold winter. Leave it outside where it can get the natural winter precipitation. I wouldn't pour water on it while it frozen in the winter time.

I'm in zone 3-4 and trust me, anything in a pot freezes.

I ended up putting it in the garage by the window--I water it once in awhile Iike it might get if it were outside.--I can only hope it makes it.--

But thanks to you all.

Carol, I'd plant it out in the ground for good.....we have tons of them around here and they are very cold hardy. I actually have about a 8 inch baby that's been out in my yard for a few years now.....I just threw it in one of the beds and it's been fine. I love lilac bushes.

I also have a lilac out in our yard.. I just bought it last summer.. it was started in a one gallon pot.. and I just transplanted it over.. and it did great all summer.. I guess we shall see how it does this spring.. and I am going to be getting another one here soon.. we just got our Arbor Day Foundation packet for the year and they are throwing in a free lilac this year.. YAY! I am excited to get the 10 trees and get them planted ...

Cool.....it's always fun to get new trees and bushes.

You know where my lilac came from? I didn't buy it....

Our neighbors across the street(who drive me nuts), had their BEAUTIFUL, HUGE lilac tree pulled totally out. The thing was massive and in a corner of the yard not hurting anything. She always said she loved the cuttings off it for inside her house.....they are poisonous, but they don't have small children so I'm unsure the reason for pulling it out...she's not a gardener at all...now her yard it just grass and that's it. No trees or anything.

So mom and dad have a concrete path on their property next to where the lilac bush grew. After it was pulled up I found a little 2 inch baby growing in one of the cracks of the path....Pulled it out and planted it outside and it's done well ever since.

So I had the last laugh. Because even though they killed a beautiful lilac I ended up saving its baby. And that tree will now live on thru it.

Great Loz.

I have wild lilac bushes her but the one I love the most is the Sensation lilac I had special ordered. I can't wait for it to grow big.

Well ladies, The lilac is alive & well and living in my garage---I placed it by a window. I think I will bring up it to Valarie one more time this spring---if she does not take it (her huskey likes to lay on & pull up many of her plantings) I will find it a home in my yard.

The plus will be I will have an extra pot !!!

Sounds good Carol.

I have been watering the tree with rain water--and it is sprouting leaves---now if I can only get tit to sprout from the trunk like it started to last year that will be great !!!

Joclyn--nope I will wait--last year I thought the same thing, brought it out and lost all the leaves on the uppermost growth and all the new growth on the lower trunk.===so as it is doing well, I will wait to bring out out until after Mom's day. Anyway, Valarie is talking about planting it in her yard--(it IS hers after all-- )

lilac bush is doing well.
DD has still not taken it to transplant it--so I re-potted it to a larger pot--The lilac should be good in this pot for a few more years. But if she does not take it soon, I am going to have to seriously consider planting it in MY yard---