5-23-2011 One of the lilacs has started blooming, here is a picture - spring personified. Jebediah has also bloomed! Will post picture of him soon. 5-16-2011 I wanted the sweet smell of Lilacs to be present for our first spring, so we went to a nursery a few weeks ago and bought one. I had the choice between the common purple lilac and the Charles Joly french lilac, which has wine-colored blooms, and a slightly more gangly, less compact branch structure. I chose the common purple because it is projected to grow taller than the Charles Joly, and wanted it to eventually shade the height of the house on the East. Neither of us had planted a tree before, and we really enjoyed figuring it out. We named him Jebediah, and planted him on a rainy cool afternoon. The ground was soft because it was wet, but also a bit heavier because it had water in it. We dug a hole twice as big as the root ball, removed the burlap, and set Jebediah in the hole along with a mixture of mushroom compost and ...