Hydrangeasnohio, man I am jealous, you are lucky to have the local nurseryman carries the 3-gal bloomerang plants...here in Jersey, nada...goto New York 2-4 hrs out, maybe some one gal-plants...have to get to Maine, Mass, or Pittsburgh to get some 3-gal samples if I am lucky...I think it is related to the distribution of the wholesalers...the MidWest - Ohio, MO, IL - and the New England States seem to have the larger size plants than available for the rest of the country.. I have both Josee and Bloomerang now in the garden, next to each other and see how they compare...my Josee bloomed 3 times last yr, and similar to the yr before...May is the primary, then July/Aug, then Oct...the later rounds are pretty sporadic...not exactly cover the whole thing with blooms, but if you get a good size Josee, you can still get the decent fragrance not so far away...the blooms is more pinkish than Purple...Bloomerang is more purple for sure... the 3-g bloomerang put out vigorous growth so far, the blooms are ok, not spectacular, bit of a let down - maybe just the age...my 5-6 yr old Josee for sure put in a heavier show this round, but it is not fair to compare an established plant vs a relatively young plant... I think people needs to scale down the expectation on what reblooming means here...if Josee is the guide, and even with Bloomerang doing better than Josee, these reblooming lilacs will never behave like the everblooming roses or Endless Summer Hydrangeas... I think the more appropriate comparison would be those reblooming Iris around...some yrs you get them to rebloom, some yrs dont...for Josee, the second/third rounds are sporadic, and I deadhead the 1st blooms as soon as I think they are about to turn brown - about 10 days after the 1st buds opened up...it takes some work, but it does work to get the plant to bloom again... I have clients growing Josee like they grow Miss Kim or the Korean Dwarf...the never deadhead the blooms and they came back and asked me - duh - why the lilac not blooming again in the same yr...haha...I told them the trick, most get good results...some clients even told me once awhile the Korean Dwarf would put out some sporadic blooms in Sept if they deadhead the blooms promptly...but I have never tried that myself.

Buy the bush in bloom. Even if it is only one flower head, the bush will keep producing each year after, when left alone. I purchased a lilac with a tag, waited YEARS for it to bloom, only to find it was mistagged. Not a red wine color, but plain lilac old-fashioned type. I was SO ANGRY for wasting all that time waiting for flowers. Never again will I purchase a lilac that is not flowering. This makes sure plant is old enough to bloom, but is also the correct color I want. I got a Sensation, the white edged purple, blooming on a one foot high twig. The flower bent the twig half over each season, but bloomed faithfully each spring after. My Beauty of Moscow seems very nice. Blooms well, on the 4ft sticks. Has a good smell, with nice flowers. It has grown about a foot since purchase 2 years ago. I like the multi-stem look, haven't tried a tree form. I did braid some lilac stems, so they will grow together over time. This is an old-fashioned practice for interesting textured, heavy stems. It does look tree-like when they age, with a full crown. I will have to see how they do over time. I had seen old braided ones, wanted to give it a try. Braided some Rose of Sharon stems too. Braiding might be an idea for your tree-look lilac!! Will take a while to see good results.

Hi Hair, Fellow Buckeye here, born and raised in Ohio. Most of northern Guilford and Forsyth are 7a. I'm near the edge of Guilford and south of Forsyth in Davidson Co, still 7a. A lot of people live out this way and still work in Greensboro or Winston. Kernersville is a nice area too and in between the two (G'bro & WS). Cryptomeria (my favs) do fine here. I have a few... Araucarioides Globosa Nana Gyoku Ryu Yoshino Rasen - similar to Spiralis' ...and am always looking for more. Some of the Cryptomerias have problems with winter burn so best to site those with taller trees that will give them some winter protection. Of the ones I listed, all have wintered well,... except for the Rasen which was just planted last spring. We'll find out soon just how it'll do. Plant Delights and Camellia Forest both carry some of the cultivars. Do a serch on this forum for cryptomeria and you should find more info about it. I didn't garden much in Ohio and it's been abt 30 yrs since I left there, but don't plan on the hybrid tulips which were gorgeous up there. Instead look for the species types. People down here grow the hybrid types as annuals. The species are smaller, but sweet and they spread better without all the hassle of lifting. Lilacs are also tuff to grow down here. Look for the ones bred for the southern heat like Miss Kim. I have some of the more common lilacs (which I love) but they are difficult and mildew can be a constant problem. I feed mine lime and try to site them on the north or northeast side where they enjoy the cooler winter air. [IMG]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Rootdigger/Flowers%20Apr2005/4c745071.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Rootdigger/Flowers%20Apr2005/c76146fa.jpg[/IMG]

sweethomealabama, I recommend that you try Lavender Lady. I am in a zone 8a, north georgia; so I know my climate should be very similar to yours. I bought her last fall, and didn't get a chance to plant her in the ground. So I put her in a larger pot, and when the spring came and she started to bud out, I put her in the ground. A few weeks later around April 10th, I got my first flowers. I was ecstatic because I had never smelled a real lilac before. Any way, the same year that I bought Lavender Lady in the fall -- I had purchased an old french lilac at walmart in May that is not supposed to grow where I live-- it was supposed to be hardy to zone 7 (according to the books). However, I figured that they were selling it for a reason, so I gave it a try. To make a long story short, It grew very well even though we had horrendous weather in 2007-- (EXTREME heat and drought). In August the leaves looked terrible, and when the fall came it went dormant almost immediately. The next spring (2008), it woke up around the end of march/beginning of April; and rather then sending out leaves first, it quickly send out tiny dark purple cone-like clusters. These were the flowers, and they opened shortly after my Lavender Lady blooms had begun to mature. So the zone-pusher did bloom, although right after it bloomed it declined quickly and never returned to normal. I can say that the scent of the old French lilac, 'Belle de Nancy', had a much more delicate, beautiful perfume than lavender lady. This fall I planted Blue Skies, from Wayside Gardens, which I think they say is hardy to zone 9. We'll see how that turns out.