ORIENTAL TREE LILACS

ORIENTAL TREE LILAC USED AS AN ORNAMENTAL STREET TREE...

...DITTO

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  70 degrees F at the ferry dock, 65 on thr back porch.  Wind SW, light with  occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy, the humidity 85% after a stormy night that left nearly two inches of rain in the glass.  The barometer has begun to rise, now at 29.58".  The prediction is for warmer and clearing weather today and tomorrow, with cooler temperatures and a chance of thunderstorms Thursday and Friday.
   Both Japanese and Chinese tree lilacs are late blooming smaller ornamental trees (to 20feet in height or so), and cultivars of both have come into considerable use as street and park trees.   I have lumped them together under the aegis of oriental tree lilacs as they are very similar in size, blooming characteristics, care and adaptability, and frankly I have a hard time telling them apart.
   Both the Chinese tree lilac, Syringa reticulata subspecies pekinensis , and the Japanese tree lilac, Syringa reticulata, are sold mainly as named cultivars, such as 'Summer Snow' and 'Ivory Silk,' and I am not familiar enough with any of them long term to have a definitive opinion.  They all are good trees in the right place, for the right use.  They all bloom later that the familiar common lilacs and other flowering trees such as crabapples and mountain ash, and as such provide a continuation of bloom along streets and in parks.
   Quite attractive in bloom, they have little to offer in fall leaf color or fruit. They all are shade tolerant to an extent but bloom best in full sun; they have few pest or disease problems and are not overly particular as to soil types, and require moderate moisture.  They are all pretty much hardy in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 7.  They brighten the city streetscape, and can serve to emphasize entrances and boulevards.
   Oriental tree lilacs add to the diversity of urban tree populations, but should not themselves be over planted now that they have become popular.