Pruning Miss Kim lilacs for size?
11 years ago
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Comments (7)
- 11 years ago
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Pot a Miss Kim Dwarf Lilac for a balcony?
Comments (3)Definitely try it. I have a 'Sensation' lilac in a pot for 7 years now - it's been repotted twice, and needs to be repotted again. It is currently in an 18" pot and I'll probably move it up to a 20-22" when it's repotted. It has not yet been pruned, but I'll do that too at the next repotting. For your Miss Kim, I would start it in a 12-14" pot; that should hold it for 2-3 years, I think, before it might need repotting. Make sure you use potting mix, NOT potting soil in your container. Or if you have the inclination, you can check out tapla's conatiner mix over on the Container Forum. For over the winter, you'll want to mulch the pot well and pull it closer to the building walls. Spraying it with some Wilt-Pruf might be helpful as well. You are gonna love that plant. PV...See MoreMiss Kim Lilac
Comments (1)Unless they are horribly misshapen or there a some stems that are significantly longer than the rest of the bush, I would leave them be. Mine are about 3 years old and I have never pruned them except to remove the spent flowers. They keep their shape pretty well on their own. They mature to about 8ft tall so they have a ways to go. Lilac flower buds overwinter so pruning now, or too late in the growing season, will remove the coming season's flowers. Generally, prune lilacs right after the flowers fade....See MoreHate My Miss Kim Lilac
Comments (35)I planted a young Miss Kim (about 18") in April 2016 as a namesake remembrance for a loved one that had passed...in the fall after her leaves had dropped I trimmed her back to her original size, just as I do every fall with the few shrubs and roses I have in the yard, and they all come back strong the next growing season. I know, I know, I should have done research before I did that, not having a green thumb and having no knowledge about the Miss Kim, and realized that was not the thing to do until it was too late! Needless to say, I guess, there were not even any leaves this spring because I cut back the new growth last fall, but I've been watering her on occasion this summer because it's been so hot and dry here in west- central Iowa. My question is whether she will even survive my mistake, I'm reluctant to remove her and start over next spring even if I have to wait a year or more for her to come around. I'm just concerned because there wasn't even a single leaf this season. I'm more than willing to wait, but is a Miss Kim lilac hearty enough to survive and come back from my blunder eventually?...See MoreWhat is a better privacy screen - rose of sharon or miss kim lilac
Comments (10)Is your neighbor on board with this change, or does the entire width of the shrub need to be on your property? Do you need to get approval to make a change? As others have said, you won't get much spring privacy from Rose of Sharon. When we had one at a former house, it leafed out so late (early June) that most years we were discussing whether it had died over the winter before it actually got around to leafing out. It tends to be quite V shaped, so you won't have good cover for the first 2' or so regardless of time of year IME. IME full sized lilacs are fairly slow growers unless you buy really large shrubs to begin with. Miss Kim is supposed to get to +/-8', so I would think it would make a quite manageable hedge. I haven't run across references to it growing slower than other lilacs and where I've seen it growing it has seemed to fill in as fast as other lilacs. If it were me, I would probably stick with what is there rather than putting in RoS. However, both these shrubs are really of rather limited appeal as far as foliage appeal (neither has nice fall color), fruit for birds, or particularly long bloom period. I would be more likely to look at some of the Viburnum plicatum varieties (late spring flowers and stunning red fall color) or some of the Hydrangea paniculata types as Steppskie suggested (months of bloom starting in late June through late July, depending on the variety and lasting until hard freeze.) Although we have deer, they don't seem to bother the garden plants, so I can't say whether any of these will have issues. Everything I've read, however, suggests that preventing the deer from becoming habituated to your garden by spraying a Deer Off type of solution early in the season and maintaining a variety of aversion tactics (sprays, moving shiny objects, etc.) is really the way to go....See More- 11 years ago
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