This is why we often advise you to put things in the ground as soon as possible after purchasing them. These lilacs were starts that were given to me by a fellow gardener that she had dug up from her own yard. Don't you just LOVE  it when people want to share their gardens??? Anyway, I have had these since this last spring. One made it into a nice comfy spot by the shurmardi oak, and the other......well let's just say it hasn't found a home yet. The one on the left was pretty much exactly the same size as the one on the right when it went in the ground last April. So as you can see, it has quadrupled in size while the one on the right has pretty much done nothing. Even with daily water and monthly nutrients.

Sometimes you just don't know where they are going to go. This was exactly what happened here. I didn't know where I wanted to put a shrub that could possible get 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide. A common lilac shrub could easily do this. So, I planted one of them, and tucked the other one into my "I will put that in the ground when I decide where it will be happy." spot. In other words, underneath the shade of the raised herb garden. In other words.............out of site...out of mind. I looked at this one quite often though, and as the weeks stretched into months that I still hadn't found it a home it started to turn into this experiment. Since I knew that they were both the same variety/size etc when given to me, I kept an eye on both of them to see their progress. Now here it is almost fall and it will go in the ground this week. I am anxious to see if it catches up to it's partner next year.

So, here is my little piece of advice, PLANT IT WHEN YOU GET IT, unless it is 105 degrees and the sun shows no sign of relenting. Then it is always a good idea to wait until it cools off before putting them in the ground. Living things want to be where they are comfy. Us under the shade of a nice big tree, plants in the ground...with a little bit of food and organics so they can stretch their roots. On another happy note, this is the sunset tonight.  See you in the garden, Su.

clouds...they make me happy