Question
QUESTION: In Iowa I got a Lilac cutting that was 4 in. tall.  This is the second year in the ground.  It's 26 in. tall it has leaves like you would not believe and 4 new shoots coming up.  When can I expect this beautiful plant to bloom?  I live in central Indiana.

ANSWER: Ray,
Small shoots from lilac bushes usually take between three and five years to begin flowering, so be patient. If you have acidic soil spread lime or wood ashes around the plant since lilacs like a sweet soil in order to bloom. An application of a general organic fertilizer is fine once a year, as is an inch of compost or composted manure spread under the drip line of the plant. These will all help the plant to grow well, but it must get past it's juvenal period in order to start blooming.

all the best,
C.L.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I just bought this rose for my wife for Mother's Day and I want to know if it will do good in my zone 5?  I would appreciate all suggestion and advise.  Also I was told to spray it with a solution of milk and water for black spot will that work?  I know nothing about this rose.

Answer
Ray,
Hybrid teas are the pickiest of roses, but here are some of the ways to be successful:
1. Enrich your soil with a good amount of manure, dug in an area about 3' in diameter and mix the manure in as deeply as you can.
2. At the same time mix in an organic or highly organic fertilizer such as Plant Tone or Rose Tone.  The other thing that many rose growers swear by is Alfalfa, either meal or pellets (rabbit food!). I use this to fertilize everything in my gardens.
3. Plant the rose with the graft buried - that is the knob where the stems come out of. This is the most vulnerable part of the rose and needs to be under the soil in your climate.
4. Spray with any of the following for blackspot, starting now, before the plant has a problem: Green Cure ( a super baking soda mix), Serenade, or your own mix of baking soda and horticultural oil in water.  Repeat the use of this spray every week to ten days.
5. Don't let soil dry out but try not to get leaves wet when you water - a deep soaking every week in cool weather, and every three or four days in hot summer.
6. If the plant gets blackspot, be sure to remove all leaves that fall to the ground so that you remove the spores asap.
7. Apply a liquid fertilizer such as fish seaweed emulsion or other organic liquid in late June and late July.
8. In your climate you'll probably have to protect the plant over the winter with a foam cone or cardboard rose hut - available in garden centers.

I hope this helps!
C.L.