wangshan - those are beautiful lilacs!!!! Yes, it may take some time but your little babies should bloom one day. Sometimes they end up blooming earlier than if you tried starting a plant from seed. All of you in the MW have been under the influence of some chilly weather lately and I think a few days of warm will pop the buds - and if not that, they will gradually open and you'll actually have a longer bloom period out of them. My Miss Kim came out all at once last week, literally overnight, for the first time since I've had her (about 7 years). Usually she's slow to open flowers, with one or two fully opening a day. But we had a bunch of very sunny dry days in the upper 70° Fs and that popped her fully open in a day. Since both of my lilacs are permanently in containers and not in full sun, they have come out a bit later than the ones in the ground. But even then, my Miss Kim is at least a week ahead of her usual bloom schedule due to the mild winter and no late frosts. My James McFarlane hasn't fully opened buds yet, although I noticed 1 panicle opening now. Wow that wafting fragrance is great though!!!!

Thanks Rita, Kay, Avedon, Julia, Mantis, Jean! Avedon, I've heard so many complaints about AA color, I'll wait until next year to see what to do with it (I could sure use that spot!) Julia thanks, for now I taped it up and put a plant support, I'll see if it opens tomorrow (there is like 8 buds on it, not bad for a first year I guess) Mantis, thanks a lot! Wow, they do look very very similar, in fact if I saw your picture I'd think it's my noid. I checked the description, and mine doesn't have any visible magenta eyezone, the camera picks up darker colors. It also has quite a few buds but only on top. If you happen to look at this thread again, does yours match AHS description perfectly?

pepperonihead, I am waiting for a response by someone to your question. I also have a plant that the blooms are not opening. It is a Vera Cruz Rose that had 9 large bloom heads that were beautiful. A little wind blew it over, but did not break any branches. It was probably on the ground several hours before I found it. Ever since that happened, the flower looks more like a shell than they do a flower. I wondered if it went into shock and is just not going to open. Look forward to some expert comments.

Here, with tomatoes, I have to be really careful not to disturb the leaf 'umbrella' if they're covered on the plant. If they're already exposed, its ok. But uncover one, its toast. Yesterday we noticed that the apples on the west side of one of the younger trees were half ripe where the sun hit them, half not-ripe on the east side of the fruit. So we just ate the west half:-) Which reminds me..... About 30 yards out the bedroom window we have a dozen fruit trees, right now with apples ripening up and ripe peaches, so a fair amount of wind fall and spoiling fruit on the ground. Further down the hill we have a cat tail swamp where reside umpty thousand red-wing black birds. This cat tail swamp is the egress point into the '52 estates if you are a deer, raccoon, fox, or a coyote. So, last night, just about all night, we had one of those critters wading and rustling through the cat tails, setting off all the RWBB squawking, then up into the orchard to munch. Then another critter doing the same thing, and then another, and another. All culminating in a big snarl / growl chorus as they fought over the last rotten peach or something. So I shined a flash light. A whole lot of eyes out there.........