Lilac Miss Kim #2

Short on space, but want the spring fragrance of Lilac? Try the little cousin of the popular Common Purple Lilac (Lilac syringa). Meet the Miss Kim Lilac bush (Syringa pubescens subsp. patula Miss Kim').

The overall size of the plant stay smaller, remains denser and more rounded, and grows a bit slower than Common Lilacs. Also known as the Manchurian Lilac, this is an elegant shrub with a really nice natural shape.

And don't worry. Even though Miss Kim is smaller in size, she still produces a huge display of fragrant flowers in spring.

A Korean variety, she also produces flowers after all of the French Lilacs are done blooming. Add Miss Kim to a collection of Lilacs to extend your heavenly season of bloom.

Plant them where you can enjoy the tremendous fragrance and enjoy the massive flower displays. Don't forget to cut armloads and bring them indoors to enjoy in your cut flower arrangements.

The flower buds are dark purple pink, but the flowers open pale lavender to ice blue. The abundant blooms finish their season by fading to a very soft lavender-pink.

The flowers feature that classic sweet Lilac fragrance that can be smelled all over the garden. They smother your shrub in late spring.

Like all Lilacs, you'll get the best flowering if you site it in full sun. Air circulation is always a good idea for Lilacs.

Miss Kim Lilac has great powdery mildew resistance. Her dark green leaves are smaller and rounded. During the summer, this tree will stay a pleasant green and as the season fades to fall, the leaves will blush red for an additional season of interest. In some years, the foliage turns a beautiful burgundy fall color. Miss Kim has the best fall color of any Lilac on the market.

Miss Kim can be used in urban landscapes. Not only for her showy good looks, easy care nature and fragrant flowers, but she shows tolerance to urban pollution and can even tolerate road salt.

This is the best fragrant Lilac for the south. Miss Kim requires fewer chill hours to produce bloom than French varieties.

This Miss Kim Lilac will catch more than just the jealous eyes of your neighbors. It brings butterflies and hummingbirds who love the easy access to the delicious nectar.

Please don't let another year go by without adding this outstanding Lilac to your garden.Order yours today!

How to Use Miss Kim Lilac in the Landscape

There are so many ways to enjoy a compact Lilac in your landscape. Wherever you choose to use her, please know that she'll bloom best for you in full sun.

Let's start in the front yard. Need a bit of privacy, but don't want to feel too overwhelmed? Try a hedge of Miss Kim Lilacs along your fence line or front sidewalk.

Once established, Miss Kim is seriously low maintenance. She can tolerate road salt, so try a friendly fence along your length of your front sidewalk.

Use her in a side yard or create a lawn planting with a gently curved island garden bed. Use 1, 3, 5, 7 or more for the most natural look. Underplant with smaller evergreens and other flowering plants. Don't forget the spring bulbs to really maximize the spring display.

For a dense hedge, plant 2 to 3 feet apart on center. You'll measure from the center of one plant to the center of the next. If you want an easy-breezy hedge that billows in the breezes, you can increase that space to 3 to 4 feet apart. They will just touch as mature plants.

If you have higher windows, or just want a bit of privacy for your front windows, she'll make a marvelous modern foundation planting. Use a single plant as a specimen to anchor the corner of a foundation planting.

The smaller size makes it perfect plant to border a walkway or patio. However you use it in the yard, plant it where you can enjoy it.

In backyard landscaping, Miss Kim is fantastic for massing, hedging, and repeating along the back of your mixed borders. Picture a staggered planting along the back of your perennial or mixed border planting.

Sunny, well drained soils are always best for the best vigor and flowers. Miss Kim is used as a mass planting on many residential and commercial sites. Plant in a checkerboard 3 feet apart to create a wonderful mass planting.

You can even keep them in large containers for several years. Use container plants for strategic screening on the patio or pool deck. Try one on either side of your entryways.

#ProPlantTips for Care

People love Lilacs for the fragrant blooms, so we want to provide some expert care tips to encourage the best blooms.

Start with a spot in well-drained soils. If you see long-lasting puddles in the area you want to plant a Miss Kim, bring additional native soil and create a mound 18 - 24 inches. Plant directly in that mound. This is especially true if you have clay soils. She will not tolerate standing water, or wet feet.

Please don't plant her too deep, either. Miss Kim would rather be planted exactly at the same depth it was growing in at the nursery. There is no need to over mulch this Lilac.

Full sun is best, and morning sun is optimal for this sun-loving shrub. If there is too much shade, your Lilac will limp along and produce leaves, but it will likely never produce blooms.

The first year, you'll want to provide a moderate amount of water. If you haven't gotten a good rain, get out there and check the soil near your Lilacs. Poke your finger in the soil. If it's getting dry, drag the hose out and give a nice, long drink.

Once Miss Kim's roots are established in your soil - after the first season or two - you can rely on rainfall. This is a drought tolerant shrub in all but extended drought.

Keep your eye on her if you have a very long delay between rainfall. You may need to give supplemental water in late fall, too.

While this shrub grows about 6 - 10 inches a year into a compact shape, it's possible to prune it if needed. Prune directly following the bloom to correct crossing branches or remove any broken limbs.

Lilacs bloom on last year's wood. If you prune too early or too late, you'll lose the flowers for next spring. Prune it right after it flowers and before seeds are formed assures you an abundance of flowers the following year.

Once your plant gets about 10 years old, it's time for a 3 year renewal pruning project. After the flowers are finished, remove 1/3 of the thickest, oldest stems all the way down at the ground. This leaves the younger thinner stems in place for a nice natural form of the plant.

Do this each year for 3 years. After 3 years, you'll have a new shrub! You can also hard prune Miss Kim Lilacs to 2 to 3 feet tall, if desired.

For Lilacs near lawn, be careful about high nitrogen lawn fertilizers. This will make lots of foliage but discourage blooms. Don't allow lawn fertilizers near the base of the shrub.

Instead, feed it a nice slow release fertilizer for blooms once a year in spring after your shrubs have leafed out.