I honestly loved the base of this tree...but sadly, thinking it's not in the cards

[Cadillactaste]

I honestly REALLY liked the base of this lilac tree I picked up last year. I got it for a reasonable price when the summer help seen the powdery mildew upon check out marked it down...told me to keep the sales slip and they would reimburse me if it died. Took it home and treated...pruned it back some. Wired and knew NOTHING of what I was doing to the side without the powdery mildew. Winter came...put it into winter storage...spring cane and the side I wired had an unusual colored leaf. Which the side unwired was green. Thought maybe it was from manipulating it...


Then fall came. I guess I never paid attention to it last year...but this year I noticed the side with the unusual color spring foliage...had fall coloring to it...the right side didn't. I had stuck it in the ground to fill a dead spot in the landscape where a tree had died over winter. To fill in while we had our son's graduation party. Thought...ground growing might be what I want to do with this. Would allow it to thicken faster...then this happened.



So now my thoughts are...possibly two different varieties were potted together. Which to my thinking its surely now...destined for landscape.

 

[JoeR]

Or perhaps they grafted it and the parent stock took over the desired cultivar?

One of my pear fruit trees is doing the same thing. The rootstock is sending out a very vigorous shoot.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Backside of tree...to me it seems a different tree possibly. I see no graft unions.

 

[JoeR]

Backside of tree...to me it seems a different tree possibly. I see no graft unions.
View attachment 88071

You're right; that one looks like two separate trees for sure.

 

[Cadillactaste]

You're right; that one looks like two separate trees for sure.

I assumed same variety...apparently not.

 

[sorce]

What do you know!

A Lie.
And a Lack!

Sorce

 

[GrimLore]

I assumed same variety...apparently not.

My "guess" is they are the same and one had a lot more exposure to the elements. In the Spring when they bud take comparison pictures and do the same when they show leaf. Not unusual for a plant in landscape to take more then a season to acclimate. Also where "they" are planted could be making a difference. One getting full sun while the other might not. Watching it through the year will help determine.

Grimmy

 

[Cadillactaste]

It was wintered in my greenhouse @GrimLore...So it didn't take on the elements last winter. Planted in ground once we came back from our mission trip after scowering nurseries and not finding anything to fill that void space in the landscape. But I'm sure next year will reveal much. Since I didn't prune it...so if it blooms it might tell me more.

 

[GrimLore]

But I'm sure next year will reveal much. Since I didn't prune it...so if it blooms it might tell me more.

I am pretty certain outdoors it will turn out to be just fine.

Grimmy

 

[Cadillactaste]

Well it's in the ground...protected with stakes and burlap. Though I felt that overkill. My husband seems to prefer the thing where it's at.

 

[Adair M]

It does look like two trees fused together.

There's a couple trees in a pasture near by that look like one tree in summer. But when fall comes, one turns yellow, the other red!

 

[Cadillactaste]

It does look like two trees fused together.

There's a couple trees in a pasture near by that look like one tree in summer. But when fall comes, one turns yellow, the other red!

That's what I see as well. The fact spring foliage and fall foliage differs...and the leaf size is a bit smaller on one than the other as well. Makes me think two different trees.

 

[GrimLore]

It does look like two trees fused together.

That's what I see as well.

So it is an Exposed Root Clump Mixed Forest!

Grimmy

 

[Cadillactaste]

So it is an Exposed Root Clump Mixed Forest!

Grimmy

That's a very optimistic way to look at it. Lol

 

[Cadillactaste]

Just looks like my husband will get his way...and this will stay. I'm all for something of an oddity for the yard. Something the neighbors don't have. It's all bundled up for the winter...which I found endearing that he likes it that much.

 

[Cotyledon]

Could be two different cuttings thrown in the same pot in production. Or Cheap grafted garbage rampant in landscape nursery industry. You could prolly chase back the less desirable parts?

 

[Cotyledon]

Was it sensation?

 

[Cadillactaste]

Was it sensation?

Good memory...no, this was purchased later. That sensation will go as a root on rock in ground next fall. With our mission work it can't go in until after our return. Which is a bad time. I don't know if I want to put faith in someone to water landscape tree in case they get confused. So was given advice to do it when it starts to go into dormancy...to late now. But gives me some time to find the right couple of rocks to choose from. Then ground growing it for a few years.