Lilacs form their spring flower buds in June and July for the following year, then the buds are supposed to remain dormant through autumn and winter.
But Roger Huckfeldt’s lilacs in Torrington are doing a strange thing. They are blooming out as if it were spring, leaving Huckfeldt to wonder if his longtime lilac shrubs are doomed.
“They did not bloom at all this spring,” Huckfeldt said. “Then they bloomed once in September.”
Now they’re blooming again in November, which is rare for lilacs in Wyoming. It’s a bit of a mystery since normally lilacs would not bloom so close to winter.
“I think the reason they didn’t bloom in the spring is because of the time change,” Huckfeldt joked. “They are so confused because of this damn time change.”
A Built-In Backup Plan
It is highly unusual for lilacs to bloom this time of year, Cheyenne Botanical Gardens founder Shane Smith told Cowboy State Daily.
But it’s not the end of daylight saving time this past weekend causing confusion for these summer-drunk lilacs.
“It’s just such strange weather we’re having right now in terms of unusual warmth going into the fall,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The good news is, yeah, a lot of plants will bud out as this warmer weather hits, but there are usually secondary buds.”
That means gardeners may see fewer flowers come spring, but it doesn’t threaten the life of the plants.
“At least, not at this point,” Smith added. “We’ll see what else Mother Nature has to throw at us.”
A warmer-than-usual winter like last year’s would “create some havoc,” Smith said, particularly for fruit-bearing plants. But as homeowners, there’s not much anybody can do about it.
“I’ve been known to pile extra snow around fruit trees to try to discourage them from an early bloom in the spring,” he said. “But that’s about as far as you get with trying to affect something.”
Plants are going to do what plants are going to do, Smith said.
“Mother Nature has built in some backup plans, so these guys usually can survive,” he added.
Sorting Good Advice From Bad
Huckfeldt received tons of advice about what to do for his late-blooming lilacs. Some of it was quite bad.
One person suggested pruning the blooms to prevent the plant from putting energy into flowers ahead of winter, and then mulching to retain moisture.
The mulch is a good idea, Smith said. That will help maintain moisture, which is important to prevent further stress to these confused lilac bushes.
But pruning? Not so much.
“You might take some buds that aren’t open,” Smith warned.
That would mean even fewer blooms next spring than will already be the case since the fall blooms have already consumed the first flush of spring blooms.
“I think people are just better off leaving them alone and seeing what happens from there,” he said.
Another amateur horticulturist recommended Huckfeldt water the lilacs, then put a tarp over the ones in bloom to trap some warmth.
“Oh no! I would not do that,” Smith said. “That might kill it right there, depending on what you use.”
The only thing Smith said he would do at this point is make sure the lilacs have adequate moisture, as well as some mulch to help retain that moisture this winter.
“Mulching plants is always a good idea,” Smith added. “Whether it’s perennials or, actually, I even tell people to mulch their naked vegetable beds.
"We found a lot of research that shows that makes your soil healthier.”
When Is Real Winter Cold Snap Coming?
What the plants really need at this point is something gardeners cannot give them.
That’s just a good, long shot of cold weather in the teens that will tell these confused plants that winter is about to get real and it’s time to go to sleep.
That’s headed to most of Wyoming in a week to 10 days, said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day.
“We haven’t had a deep enough freeze to kill everything off,” Day said. “I mean, we’ve had some freezes. We’ve been down into the 20s.”
But that’s not enough for "plants near buildings, plants near concrete or asphalt that shelters them from the bare elements,” he added.
Day said his own yard reflects the chaotic autumn weather. He still has sunflowers and cosmos persisting now standing next to completely dead morning glories.
“So, it’s just a matter that we haven’t had that really big cold snap yet to do it,” Day said. “I don’t think we’ve broken any records with like the latest freeze of all time.
“It just hasn’t been followed up by other hard freezes yet.”
Part of the reason for the oddball weather pattern is that it’s an El Niño year, Day added.
“The one thing you do get in an El Niño is the Pacific is so dominant that Canadian air masses have a hard time wanting to come south,” he said.
While some places will be in the 20s over the next couple of nights — with Torrington likely hitting upper 20s — that isn’t the sustained freeze the lilacs need to know it’s time for winter.
“(Temperatures) dropping down into the teens, lower 20s — that really puts things to bed,” Day said. “We’ve seen that in western Wyoming, like Jackson and Big Piney, but we haven’t really seen that in the eastern part of the state.
"I would say another 10 days before we see anything that looks really cold.”
Winter is coming, blooming lilacs or no.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
