A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Lilac trees

Does anyone know how to get a lilac tree started? I read at another website that you can start them from seeds or by root cuttings. I tried the seeds (I think they were seeds) and nothing happened. I rent and there are lilac trees on the property, but I don't think my landlord would appreciate me digging any holes, not matter the reason.

Becky - I remember the towering lilacs at my grandmothers house growing up. I'm pretty certain that they either reseeded or spread because they never would have planted so many. You might try rooting them the way you can root Hydrangeas - by burying the middle of the bottom branch until it grows roots and then cut it, your landlord might not care (or even notice) you doing it that way.

I'm not sure I understand. The middle of which bottom branch and how will I know when it grows roots? How far down should I plant it and what time of year?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm just a beginning gardener.
Thank you for your help.

You want to take one of the lower branches and bury it in a trench with the tip out of the ground. So, you'll have a branch coming from the lilac, then going underground before emerging again at the tip. This method of propagation is called layering.

When i visited my mother in Michigan last june, i was able to bring back with me some "baby" lilac bushes that were growing underneath and around the "mother" tree.
In actuality, all i did was cut loose small plants that were growing from one main root. I guess u could call them "suckers". The main root was shallow; so, i didn't need to dig a big hole. All i did was pull it up and there were perhaps a dozen small plants coming up from it. When i got to SC, i cut them loose in sections (trying to be careful that each plant had some root) and planted them in separate pots with the proper soil. Yes, i did lose a few, but i still ended up with about 8 small plants that i set out in the fall.

Thank you! I googled this topic and the sites mentioned "suckers" and I couldn't figure out what "suckers" were.
I'll have to go hunting this spring for some.

I think I know what you are talking about, but I can't do that here. I'm in a townhouse type apartment complex and the closest lilac tree is seperated from my yard area by a sidewalk. Thank you for the tip, I'll have to remember that for the future.

Several years ago I was gone all day, and came home to find that the electric pole at the corner of my yard had been replaced...and the spot they put the new one was right where my lilac USED to be!

Another way of doing the layer thing Becky...is to take a large flower pot or bucket filled with dirt and set it under the bush, bend a limb down making a sort of U shape...the U part will be in the pot and cover it with dirt, you may want to sit a rock on it to hold it down, it should root like that.

I have another big lilac I want to do this with. Do I wait til spring to do it? Or, go ahead and get it started now?

This is another way of doing what you were
talking about with air layering..

Very simple to do...
The Rooting Pot/from Lee Valley Tools....

Use this in the spring time for optimal time to
root...
You get 5 pots in a purchase and they are reusable for any hard barked tree.....

Cindy, spring is the preferred time for all the layering methods except for tip layering which is done in late summer or early fall. You want to do it while the plant is still dormant, but just before growth begins. This is the time when growth conditions are most conducive to new root formation. Use a one year old shoot. (it won't have any side branches). However, if you can find a shoot that's off to the side a little, branches or not, you could simply dig it up as the plant has already done the work for you.

I've tried those rooting pots with some success, although I usually don't get them going as soon as I should.

Terry,
Did you get those?
Or are they available somewher'es else??
I've only seen them there??

*I used to do the ziplock and dirt and ducttape
before*

They have been on my Christmas list for years,
but I guess Santa doesn't read my lists!!!!!

I bought them from Lee Valley. That's the only place I've seen them.

Did that work? If so that would probably be the best method for me cause the closest tree is on my neighbors lawn area. I don't think they would care too much if I used the pot method, though.
Thank you all so much for the info and advice.

In all honesty Becky,
I would do the one that you dig the baby suckers at the base, 3, 4, 8, 12" away from the base of the tree..
easiest way to get them..
really....
I have two beautiful bushes from that method...
And if you find some dirt from somewhere's else...
fill it in, they'll never know..
keep the grass maybe that's around where you got the sucker from, and after you fill it back in,
just put some of that grass back on top and he wouldn't be the wiser...

Got a quick question??
Can you not ask your nieghbor for a sucker???
That not only would benefit you..
but him as well...
While a tree is busy putting out suckers,
it's robbing flower energy and time from the momma plant really, cause it's sending all of it's energy to suckering..
So, if a few here and there got dug up,
it would help...

Are they nice neighbors/??

Honestly Weezie, it's technically not their propery, it's the housing authority's properity. My neighbors are really nice and they haven't done any gardening to their lawn area. They probably could care less if I dug up some suckers as long as they don't get in trouble for it or have to pay for any damage. The lilac that is in front of their apartment is pretty young I think and could use a good pruning. They probably wouldn't care, but I think I would have to get the ok from the housing authority.
The way it works, the property belongs to housing, but we are responsible for maintaining a little patch in front of our apartments. We are allowed to plant, but hace to get the ok first and when we move we have to cover everything over and reseed the grass. I for one don't plan on moving anytime soon, but I don't want to put hundreds of $$$ in here just to have to plow it all over when I do move.

Well, if they didn't mind you digging,
and you aren't too sure how long you'd be
where you are..

Go dig one up, put it in a pot, not too big..
enough to accomindateb the size of the roots..

And keep it in the pot..

I took suckers from the place I used to live..
and put them in a pot/container... then when I brought it out back here where I am, I still didn't have a place to put them, so I brought them to my parents house on the hill.. and left them..

Then after a couple of years, my dad took them out of the pot/container and he healed them in....
and I went up and got them a year later...
sooooo, the one's I have have, at least, were tough cookies.. and survived..

Might give it a go and leave them in the pots for a while..
even if you can't put them in the ground, maybe every year, up grade the size of the pot/container and it can grow still from season to season, and when you get a place to put it,
it'll have a nice root system by that time and really take off for you...

Thanks for the idea. Maybe I'll dig up a few suckers and plant some in my lawn area and plant some in pots like you suggested.

hehe- I took some "suckers" from a few neighbors and planted 4 plants around the house. granted they are still small and haven't bloomed yet, but they were free and when they bloom I will have purple and white lilacs. The neighbors didn't mind and all I did was pull them from around the base of the mother plant, made sure I got some roots and then just stuck them in the ground where I wanted them to grow! They are doing good.