On May 20, 2006, along with a lot of plants from Plantranch on Ebay (2/3rds of our order died by the end of the first season, or didn’t survive through the first winter, even though they were supposed to be hardy to zone 3, which is three zones colder then ours. He doesn’t help customers, guarantees little, and gets nasty when you do have problems. Don’t buy from this place!), our bare-root Dwarf Lilac came home to our house.

It looked like a beary long slingshot without the rubber band, but it was a’posed to look like that. We followed the instructions and knew lilac bushes do not flower for the first four to eight years! (We knew we would be OLD before seeing her bloom, but we can wait.)

We’ve had problems with Lilac from the beginning. She gets Powdery Mildew (PM), a fungus that steals nutrition and water from plants by covering up their leaves with gray furry stuff, and we must trim lots and lots of her leaves or branches, so it doesn’t kill her. Last summer, we moved her container away from the house, a’cuz one of the causes of PM is poor circulation. Twice a week, or after any rain, we sprayed each of her leaves – underneath, too – with a mixture of 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of dish detergent, and a gallon of water to slow down the PM.

She thanked us by making her first tiny little bloom, last August. Even if it was beary small, it came the second summer we had her!

Now, we’ve been helping Mommy learn more and more about gardening all winter, so we had her buy something called Neem, as well as a two-gallon sprayer, so our paws don’t get sore from repeat squeezing, when we apply it on Lilac, to avoid PM in the first place! Well, we know that stuffies can ESPN Peoples, so we always know what Mommy and Daddy are thinking. We don’t have telepathy with plants though, so we just talk to them, and hope they understand!

Lilac understands! This is the beginning of her third growing season, and she bloomed beary, beary prettily!

We’re in front of Lilac, and those other plants are our Blue Paradise Phlox growing back for their second season.

Lilac in all her glory! She might not look as full as most lilac bushes, but how many have you seen with big fluffy flowers before their third birthday? The metal thing next to Lady is a solar light.

The same place as last year’s little bloom. Multi-blooms on one branch! See? Can she get any prettier? And, well, Mommy got a lilac a’cuz they smell good, and our Lilac smells as pretty as she looks!