I am the proud owner of lilacs, once again!

See, I love lilacs.  They’re the state flower of New Hampshire, so I spent quite a few years smelling them in the springtime growing up, and they served as a nice replacement to the summer mulberries in New York.  I’m especially fond of the dark purple ones.  Purple is full of awesome.  It’s not my favorite color, per se, but I do like it.

So about a week ago, I cruised by Seven Dees on Powell to see if they had any lilacs.  It was freakin cold, and I figured my chances were slim.  Surprise!  They had bunches, all shapes and sizes (and prices).  I picked out two Ludwig Spaeth lilacs, cuz they’re the darkest purple of the ones they had.  And so because they had tons of lilacs I’m so cool and awesome and stuff, they gave me a 20 dollar discount on the pair right on the spot!

Now, I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to put them.  Lilacs like a lotta sun, and this is my sunniest corner, complete with fire pit of awesomeness:

Before....

I’m planning on putting some sort of tree (yes, I’m considering the state tree of NH, the white birch, and no, I’m not making some NH flora exhibit), or some clumping bamboo, right in the corner there.  Do the lilacs go one on each side?  Or both along the fence on the right, which would get the max sun?  Decisions, decisions.  I had Jessie, my trusty yard dog, help me decide…

First, we tried both lilacs to the right of the future tree/bamboo planting area.  Jessie says “Hmm, I dunno.  I’m not a feng shui master or anything, but I tend to prefer some balance, and this just feels all lopsided to me.”

Lilacs on the right side

Then we tried putting a lilac on either side of the future center planting.  Ideally, the tree or bamboo will be quite a bit taller than the lilacs.  Thanks Jessie, for standing in as the tree/bamboo.  Cute pup, right?  After perusing the two options for a bit, I decide that I’m liking the balanced layout better.  Decision made, time to plant!  And yeah, that’s a post hole digger near the fire pit.  FEAR ME, FUTURE LILAC HOLES!!!

Centered Lilacs

So the hole digging begins.  And when I dig holes for plants I’m planting, I always look for WormSign.  Of course, a decent amount of wormsign means the soil is well aerated and stuff.  And also, because I’m a total nerd/geek/awesome person, every time I find a worm, I say “Shaaaaiiii-Hulluuuuuuuuudd……”  And THEN, I get the following phrase running through my head when I do find a decent amount of worms: “Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen!”

Yes, I’m a dork.  But here’s my WormSign: (There’s actually two worms there.  Look closely.  Or not.)

WormSign

So yay!  Lilacs are planted, and have oodles and oodles of buds.  The guy at the nursery told me (thanks nursery guy!) that lilacs love hard cold winters, because it gives them a chance to really go completely dormant and fully recharge, so I’m expecting lilac blooms of total awesomeness this spring.  Yay!!

Stay tuned for further Eternal Project updates!