Two Common Lilacs Planted - Spring 2018

Our old neighbor Greg had these really amazing (and massive) Lilac bushes back between our playground and his garage.  Nat always admired them and their quite large blooms that not only looked great, but put out a pretty good scent each season.  We planted two different varieties at our old place - both larger Lilac and a dwarf Lilac.  Each of them took, but they served different purposes - with the larger one being what Nat wanted and the dwarf version fitting into a specific spot in our beds in Elmhurst. 

Despite there not being any Lilac called for on our plan design, adding these were on Nat's 'wish list', so when I came across these little "Common Lilac Purples", I grabbed them and planted them.  You can see in the photo above, that I planted them pretty close together - closer than they are supposed to be, but that's on purpose because I'd like to see them grow into a little hedge of sorts right to the left of the small flowering pear tree that the Bird planted for Earth Day that I posted about recently.  I'm going to try to keep 'limbing up' that tree and would love to see these Lilacs spread out and fill in the space up to/underneath the trunk as it matures.  In front, I'm going to replant some of the allium bulbs that I planted last fall to add some color and layering to this section of bed. 

Here's the tag showing the name -  Syringa vulgaris (which is kind of funny, right?) - and photo of some deep purple flower blooms. 

I've placed these here in the [Garden Diary] section of the blog so I can revisit these over the years.  My experience with Lilacs in Elmhurst was mixed.  Planted three (2 big ones, one dwarf) and one large one made it (other died in first year) and the dwarf was pretty consistent.