THE LILAC ZONE

I apologize for the delay in reporting any news of 2019. The spring and following months were very busy for me, so much so that it did not allot much time for updates to this site. Regardless, the 2019 lilac season was another fun one. I had several opportunities to procur additional lilacs, some of which are fairly rare, adding a total of 10 more to the collection. This included 'Martha Stewart', which literally took several years to locate! 

On the flip side, 2019 unfortunately also brought about a rampant outbreak of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae or what is commonly called "lilac bacterial blight". Bacterial blight can damage new shoots, leaves and flower buds, causing them to turn black and die. I did not know what I was contending with until this blight spread through quite a bit of my collection. Unfortunately in order to get rid of it, it is often necessary to remove the affected areas of the plant, which necessitated some severe pruning of a number of the plants in my collection. It was disheartening to have to do it, but they seemed much better afterwards. After doing some research, I also purchased a bactericide/fungicide that I will be applying in early spring. I am hoping that this will take care of whatever residual bacteria remains.

2019 Update