Are white lilacs grafted onto common rootstock?
I've inherited a white lilac in the front garden and a purple one in the back.
Both were in quite a poor state with the front one growing at an angle (making it hard to mow under) and retaining all its black blooms from last year and a lot of dead branches (the garden has been neglected for a bit). The one in the back had the biggest ivy I've ever seen almost strangling it, I've now removed this and can see lots of buds springing up lower down.
I noticed that the white one had some fresh growth coming from the bottom and I nearly cut it out because it was crossing but I thought I'd leave be until after flowering.
Now that the flowers are bursting I can see that it has two colours with the fresh growth showing lilac and the old stuff a white, more plumptious bloom.
I decided I'd probably enjoy the show this year and then cut out the lilac part to stop it taking over.
Any thoughts?
T
Posts
I've always found the white lilac a lot less vigorous than the purple variety. Mine weren't grafted though, just dug up suckers from a relation. I do notice the same thing walking around our neighborhood.. Huge purple lilacs and small insubstantial white ones. Would make sense to graft the white one, actually. Just dig up the sucker and plant it elsewhere.. free plants are great.
Not a great picture because it's going dark but you can see the 2 colours
You can see the sucker is quite mature
close up
Yeah, it's newer and fresher isn't it? I think the white part is quite old.
I'd let them grow together.. the purple may eventually out complete the white, so you may need to keep it a bit more pruned. They look lovely mixed like that.