Ivory Silk Lilac Trees

Sundance, WY(Zone 3b)

Does anyone have any experience with these? Do you like it? How fast do they grow? I love that they are smaller, and would go great under the power lines, but can't find any info on how fast they grow, and really don't want to wait 20 years for them to hit a decent size, lol! I would love any input and opinions that any of you have! Thanks!

Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a)

I had an Ivory Silk tree which grew rapidly and bloomed reliably.
But it died after 10yrs suddenly - I don't know why.
Suckers have come up, but I'm not sure if Ivory Silk is grafted or not,
so I don't know whether to bother with letting the suckers form a replacement tree or not.
But it certainly grew fairly fast for me.

Sundance, WY(Zone 3b)

Thanks, Weerobin! I have never seen one anywhere around here at the nurseries, and just heard about these trees on a TV show. They seem to be extremely cold hardy, so really not sure why they are so uncommon around here. Guess I didn't read anything on them as to their longevity, but I've had regular lilacs last forever, so seems unlikely they should be short lived, but ??? Everything I read on them said they don't smell like regular lilacs, but more like privet. Well, I have no clue what privet smells like, so wondered how fragrant yours was, and if you liked the scent? Don't know that they would be grafted, but didn't sound like it from what I've read, but everything also said that they shouldn't sucker much, if any, so hard telling :-)

Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a)

They are too tall for the scent to be noticeable.
Though mine bloomed reliably, it wasn't a super showy bloom.
Off white, but seemed to have a brownish margin.
Not as spectacular as some of our other spring blooming flowering trees.

Also, just because mine died suddenly, I don't mean to imply that the species is prone to early sudden demise. Sadly, I've lost a number of usually reliable plants for no obvious reason. Could have been a flukey disease or soil/siting problem.

Edited to add that I had no problems with it suckering while it was alive.
The suckering only happened after the main trunk died.


This message was edited Apr 4, 2011 10:24 AM

Sundance, WY(Zone 3b)

I can kill things for no apparent reason too, lol! Although, have been known to kill things for very obvious reasons too ;-) I'm still thinking I'm going to have to search for them this spring when our nurseries are up and running and plant 1 or 2 out by the street, since they seem to be a good street tree. I really appreciate the info, tho, since I really was ignorant of these trees. Still thinking they will be good under the power lines we have along one whole end of our property.

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