How big will the lilac get? And how do you mean to grow SGMC??

Jeri

SGMC: what are the choices?

Depends upon the space you want to give it.

It can do a good-sized arbor, not a tiny one. I think you could rig a rebar arbor. We used an arbor with a vertical trellis, or "wing" on each side, so it could spread out.

You could grow it as a huge arching shrub, so long as you don't have to get really close to it, except in old "working clothes.

You could make a really sturdy "corral" around it, as they did with "Vina Banksia" at the Sacramento cemtery. That would girdle it in at the bottom, making it grow UP, and then arch out.
(See below, "Vina Banks" last week)

Jeri

Well, that does it. No lilac there!

I dont think SGMC is quite as rampant as VB, actually.

Jeri

Miss Kim is significantly smaller in size than a "happy" Secret Garden! Kim

My cousin has had Miss Kim here for several years and it's still very small (maybe 5 feet tall tops) and slow growing in this zone. I don't know how it would be in yours but I would still think SGMC would engulf it easily.

Rosefolly - your post reminds me of a book titled "The Lady in Lilac" I found in an old trunk on my grandfather's farm. It was a nice mystery story and I enjoyed reading it as a teenager. It was probably written 1920 -1940.

Mystery stories are my favorite genre and I love re-reading my childhood favorites, too.

A spot just opened up in my garden and I plan to put my first lilac there - Lavender Lady, which I will get in spring next year.

Good luck with finding the right spot for Miss Kim.

Cheers,
Jo

Jeri, I'm dying: why did you have to post that photo? Our roses and irises haven't started blooming yet. And the sun hasn't come out yet this year either, in any convincing fashion.
Melissa, green with envy (and moss).
P.S. It is a beautiful photo.

That's OK Melissa. give us two days of East Wind, and they.I'll all be potpourri. :-(

Jeri

Jeri, I just planted SGMC a couple of weeks ago. Tom s going to make me a corral like the one in the Vina Banks picture, though I am counting on it staying quite smaller than that, as suggested.

And I decided to give 'Miss Kim' away.

Rosefolly

I think, you know, that some judicious pruning/shaping can keep your SGMC a bit less wild than ours. It should be magnificent.

One of the great things about SGMC, I think, is the fact that the fragrance carries on the breeze (at least, it does here) so that you can enjoy it without becoming too intimate with the plant itself.

Jeri

Follow up: I gave away Miss Kim and moved the existing lilac 'Sensation' to the spot I originally had in mind for Miss Kim-plus-SGMC. This leaves a nice 10x10 space for SGMC. I hope it is enough.

Rosefolly

Jeri, if it's not too much trouble,could you descibe that "corral" structure a bit better, or,if at all possible, post a photo showing the structure a bit more clearly? I'd love to try doing a thing like that in my own garden...thanks, bart

I do this all the time since I am continually moving vegetable supports about, my roses have to be largely freestanding. Basically, I have used anything which can encircle the rose to a height of 2feet up to 6 feet. So, timber works well - just four corner posts with 2 lots of supporting and bracing lengths between the uprights. For a smaller rose, Moonlight, I used an old council galvanised rubbish bin (the metal frame used to hold plastic bags) or, those obelisks you can buy with the top half removed. Anything, really, which can support and enclose the plant so the canes are forced to grow vertically to a particulat height, then can cascade over the top of the support, fountaining out instead of collapsing into a heap on the ground.
Overall, I would say the easiest is a timber structure, closed on 3 sides with the back left more open to enable stray canes to be pushed back into the enclosure. 2x2 inch tanalised timber can be sunk 2feet into the ground and will, with horizontal crosspieces, remain sturdy for 10 years - 4x4 posts would last even longer and be more appropriate for one of the enormous ramblers.
I also use stout hazel rods, fixed widely apart but joined at the top to make a pyramid shape and brace those with more hazel, tied into position with leather thongs (they get wet, stretch, then dry firm) as they last longer than jute. The rose (Jasmina) grows inside the structure but cascades out between the horizontal hazel bracers, while the widely spaces uprights have enough downward pull to resist being blown over (I use a 4foot base measure between uprights). The hazel will last 5/6 years and will eventually be removed by sawing through the uprights and will be replaced with similar new rods, threaded through the rose growth.
Basically, stability is the most essential aspect so the base footprint must be wide enough to cope with winds and weather and the weight of the enclosed rose - 4 feet seems to be a good minimum (which is why I avoid so many of those manufactured upright obelisks which just tip over in a breeze or with wayward plant growth).
Bart , everything can be either nailed or tied together - there is no need for fancy joinery and I would say that buying treated (tanalised) timber is always worth the slight extra cost....although you could apply your own preservative. One day, I will have a supply of red cedar (when my thujas grow) but until then, its hazel and whatever comes to hand from the local timber merchants. If you have access to any galvanised metal, that is also useful (but far less kind to tender roses rubbing against the metal).

Thank you, Campanula! I hope to try this technique! Naturally, pictures WOULD be deeply appreciated,but I'm so bad about taking/posting photos that I guess I have a lot of nerve...
Sturdiness is a top priority for me; my garden is subject to some awfully strong winds,and I don't have any walls,so 3- dimensional stuctures are a must...bart