Several factors could thwart lilac's blooming

Q: I have two lilac bushes that have never bloomed. They are several years old and about 3 to 4 feet tall. How do I get them to bloom? — BarbS575, New Mexico

A: It would break my heart to have two of my all-time favorite shrubs living in my landscaping with no bloom. Heart-wrenching, to say the least.

I’d never heard of this and at first wondered if there are male or female specific lilacs. I know that in the Ilex world, aka holly, you do need male and female plants in order to have the happy red berries, but I’d never heard of lilacs being sex specific. I turned to several of my reference books and then waded online and felt assured that no, lilacs are not single sex plants.

Everything I have read lists three major concerns when it comes to lilacs not blooming. First and foremost is the amount of sunshine preferred by lilacs. They really perform best when offered at least six hours of sunshine daily. Without that, they probably won’t flower much, if at all. Are your two lilacs planted in a semi-shaded or a shaded area? If so, consider transplanting them to a sunnier locale.

The second most touted cause for a lilac not blooming is being overfertilized. As a rule they don’t need much fertilizer and if offered a lot of nitrogen in a fertilizer, like they are living close to or in a lawn, they are probably picking up too much nitrogen which isn’t utilized to produce blooms. You’ll have healthy leaves, just no blooms.

The third most common cause to keep a lilac from blooming is what type of soil it’s planted in. I didn’t know this, but lilacs prefer living in a more alkaline-based soil. If when you planted you initially added a lot of peat moss as a soil amendment, that peat is more acidic in its makeup and the lilacs don’t like it. I can see wanting to make the soil hold more water, but that’s another caveat with lilacs. They prefer living in soil that drains well and tends to run on the alkaline spectrum of the soil kingdom. A planting spot that holds water really well isn’t gonna make for happy lilacs. Who knew? Well now we all do.

Everything listed here is fixable if the information pertains to how your nonblooming lilacs are growing, so don’t despair.

Two more things, some lilacs won’t bloom for the first few years they are planted, so that could be a cause too. Also, if you have pruned them as you would if they’d bloomed for you, stop. Let them keep the growth to see if that’ll encourage these guys to come into bloom.

So it’s lots of sunshine, aim to never overfeed and certainly little to no nitrogen based diets, and better drainage at their feet. No soggy bottoms for a healthy lilac, OK? Hope this info helps you figure out the mystery as to why your lilacs aren’t blooming for you.

Q: I was given a miniature rose for my birthday earlier this month and it’s doing OK. As the flowers have finished blooming, I’ve carefully cut them off to keep the plant looking good. I have noticed lately that a couple of the leaves are getting crinkled looking on their edges. Is this something I need to be concerned about? — H.B., Albuquerque

A: Here’s what I’ll suggest you look for.

Does the pot the rose lives in drain? Or is it sitting in a decorative nondraining pot? Is there florist wrapping paper keeping the water in the display? If your answer is yes, then you need to move the rose either out of the nondraining pot or cut away the festive wrapping paper and find a saucer for the rose to sit on.

Essentially, the rose could be drowning. It’ll be a delicate dance in the beginning to keep the rose damp enough yet not drenched constantly once you get it out of the troubling pot or paper. I’ll recommend watering from the bottom up. I usually fill the saucer my plants sit on and allow them to suck up the water they need.

Now, if there is still a lot of water in the saucer after a day, that needs to be poured off. Again, you don’t want to encourage drowning. Also, don’t allow the miniature rose to live too close to a cold window. Bright light is essential, but chilly temperatures aren’t good. Here’s to keeping your birthday rose healthier.

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson St. NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.