should I throw in the towel?

Published on by Quandie

Good morning from the garden.

I just realized that the title of today’s post might come across as a little click-bait-y.

No, I’m not throwing in the towel on blogging.  What I am considering is throwing in the towel on my lilac hedge.

Yep, after 14 years of struggling to grow a proper lilac hedge I want to give up.

Let’s start with a little history on the hedge.

When we purchased our house in 1988 there was a hedge that ran all the way across the back of our property.  I have no idea what type of hedge it was.  You can sort of see it in this photo which dates back to 2009.

See it back there behind the potting shed?  It was a tangled hot mess, and it was next to impossible to prune.  However, it did a great job of providing privacy in our backyard.

I was tired of how messy it looked though, so in 2011 we pulled it out and replaced it with a row of lilacs.

I thought lilacs would be easy.  They grow like weeds, don’t they?  I see them everywhere here.  I know people who have literally cut their lilacs down to the ground and they still bounce back.

They require full sun, which I happen to have along the back property line.  So it should be the perfect spot for lilacs.

I also love the flowers, so a lilac hedge seemed like a no brainer.  A big, fairly low maintenance shrub that would provide privacy in the summer (not so much in the winter when they lose their leaves).

But aside from some lovely blooms in the spring …

I have had exceedingly poor results with mine.

I initially planted around 10 lilacs, and after 5 years, the hedge looked like this …

Really sad, right?

But I was determined.  I kept pulling out the scrawny lilacs and replacing them.  I decided that maybe the problem was the hybrid (ie. fancy) lilacs that I was choosing.  Maybe I needed a basic common lilac to get the result I wanted.

So I put in two of those, and they did quite well for a while.  Here they are last summer when I thought maybe this lilac hedge was going to work out after all.

As an experiment, I planted three clematis to grow up amongst the lilacs last summer.  Clematis take a few years to really fill out, but I did get a handful of blooms this summer on the two that made it through last winter.

Unfortunately towards the end of last summer the lilacs ended up with leaf spot fungus and once again looked awful after losing most of their leaves.

They only recovered somewhat this spring.  I had plenty of flowers.

But the leaves never really filled in well.

To try and add some bulk down low, I decided to try to underplant the lilacs with some hostas a month or so ago.

I divided these from a row of hostas that I have in another area.

Hostas always look a bit sad after being divided, and to make matters worse, something is eating them now (I suspect deer, but it could be rabbits).

But they should look much better next year if I can keep them from being eaten.  I think I’m going to have to resort to using a deer/rabbit repellant spray.

However, once again this summer we have had lots of rain and humidity, the conditions that allow leaf spot fungus to proliferate.  So once again my lilacs again look pretty pathetic.

Every year I waste on trying to baby these lilacs is another year that a different shrub could have been growing to maturity.

So now what?  Do I throw in the towel?  Pull everything out and start over?

Or do I give them one more year?  Wait and see how it looks as my clematis and hostas fill in?

What would you do?  Leave a comment and let me know.

13 thoughts on “should I throw in the towel?”

  1. It’s so frustrating when you have a vision and it’s not working out. I think I’d try something else. Viburnum is hardy and gets tall and full. Not anything exciting it does get some blooms in the spring and berries that the birds like but it’s carefree and makes a great screen! PS- is there a black walnut tree around somewhere? Lilac will not grow around them.
    Sent from my iPhone

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    1. I hadn’t thought about viburnum, but I see online that some varieties have nice fall color. I could use some more fall color in the back garden, so I’m definitely going to look into that further. And nope, no black walnuts back there so that’s not the problem.

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  2. When I was a child, my parents moved to a farm that had a sad looking lilac hedge of 13 lilac bushes. They didn’t bloom the next spring so my dad mowed them down. (He used a tractor and a bush hog because a regular lawn mower was not going to be able to cut those trunks.) They came back, to our amazement and the second year on, provided a thick lush hedge but more important, thousands of lush fragrant flowers. Maybe try that before you throw in the towel. I so hope it works for you too….because LILAC FLOWERS!! ❣️

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  4. Oh, I so love your plants & beautiful gardens ♡ I hope you wait until next year to decide on the lilacs ♡

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  6. Hi Linda, I know they are so common, but would you ever consider an Arborvitae wall? There are so many heights and shapes. It would stay green all winter and provide a privacy screen for you, year round. The green backdrop could be lovely for your colored clematis and and variegated hostas underneath. I do understand your love of the lilacs though!

    Melissa

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    1. Yes, I absolutely would. In fact, I’d love an arborvitae wall. My biggest concern is deer pressure. Deer love a good arborvitae, so I’m afraid they would nibble away at fresh new ones. Still … maybe …

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  7. I would let your love of the lilac give you the answer. IF they aren’t one of your favorites, maybe it is time to start over with something else? BUT maybe check out some YouTube videos? I googled it & found quite a few that might be worth checking into?

    Our two small bushes struggle but this year they did better – who knows why! Best of Luck, Q!

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