Thanks for the reassurances! Never seen much fall colour on any lilac bush, even here up north (not near the Nile ken) Like I said, it showed up quite a few weeks ago, before any "normal" tree showed anything, hence my concern. Thought maybe it could be a known disease. bboy, If I don't get nice foliage in the spring, I'll look at the roots. Right now the temps are not conductive to gardening (rain, and in the 40s). And I'll remove the grass and mulch in spring for sure. My landscaper did it on the newly planted stuff, but not my "old" stuff, don't know why, but then, it's easy to fix.

Tee-hee … my casual comment inspired this thread, yet it's only this weekend I have the time and bandwidth to catch up with all the thoughtful comments and inspiring photos. Thanks Nell! I still want to know the botanical name of your gorgeous 'Purple Heart'. I no longer feel compelled to acquire the latest and greatest. But sure want to try it if it survives or can over-winter indoors. A coleus? Inky has a variegated cousin here. We did kinda lose track of the zones as Nancy suggested, but there's lots to be learned from associations which work elsewhere. I'm definitely going to look into Brunnera. My first experiments with perennials were based upon eye-candy in books, mags, and catalogs. Made the mistake of transplanting some native ferns which provide great contrast, but invade. Since then, I've moved to mixed borders of shrubs, perens, bulbs and filling in with annuals. Alas, my yard is large enough that the beds are mostly seen from afar. Jkom's beautiful details and Annette's variegation would get lost in the distance. I do include a few "Easter eggs" for those who look closely. Zone 5a, formerly 4b, I like peonies, iris (German and Siberian) and daylilies to anchor the bed. Artemesia and Ruta provide different tones of green throughout the growing season. Favorite low-grower this year is Ajuga 'Caitlin's Giant' with bronze leaves. Love my hostas, but can't depend upon them: deer candy in harsh winters. The nubbins survive, but look ratty in the process. Thank-you Christin for the great summary! Ana

One fact that I couldn't get out of my head about the lilacs is that Descanso Gardens is growing them successfully. Descanso is in Flintridge La Canada, California, in LA County. From the data I could gather, that area receives from 59 to 375 chill hours per year on average. That's less than we get here in Citrus County. Yet they're growing them. I recently talked with the chief Horticulturist at the Gardens and asked him about that. He felt there was no reason why we couldn't get lilacs to flower here. The Gardens are in USDA Zone 9 and Sunset Zone 21 (same as Citrus County) and he agreed that the chill hours I suggested were probably right. He emphsized growing the hyacinthaflora hybrids because they were bred for warmer climates. Pocahontas was one of them. There are a number of others. He has kindly agreed to send me a list of the lilacs grown at Descanso in the next couple of weeks. So, it seems that if we pick the right ones, supply the right conditions, we ought to be able to flower them. Richard

Thanks for the help! It's a lovely flower and I like it a lot, even though it has no scent (it actually kind of smells like mildew for some reason...ew!) They're sure nice to look at, though. :)