Korean Lilac Cheers Me, Darlusz

"Matt, you sister and dat husband she got really nize. What dat day leave out dare on da deck,?" asked Darlusz Zabagaiski, the Polish frog who lives here at my St. Albans house.

"They sure are nice. They left me a beautiful Korean dwarf lilac to plant out in the yard," I replied. It's a beautiful gift. It blooms a little later than traditional lilacs. It's smaller, and has these gorgeous dark, shiny leaves with curvy edges. Just a gorgeous shrub.

The lilac will be another step in my goal to eradicate as much lawn as possible and convert it to gardens.

"Where you plant da what you call, Korean lilac,?" Darlusz asked.

Darlusz the Polish frog checks out the
dwarf Korean lilac my sister got
me as a gift.

"I think it will look great on the right side of the driveway, sort of across the driveway from the big lilac I already have. The Korean lilac can act as sort of an echo to the other one. It will also add a nice point of interest to an area that is a little too flat, with plantings that are a little too even, with not enough variety,"  I said, trying to fake some good landscape design chops as I talked.

"I help you plant," Darlusz said.

"OK, but no eating bugs around the lilac. I don't want you knocking it down and damaging it," I said.

"First we have to decide exactly where to plant it," I said. "Darlusz, you're good at placing things in the right spot. You can guide me," I said.

That was a big mistake. I brought the lilac in its pot out, and placed it in a spot I thought would work. "Move dat six inch to da right," Darlusz said. I complied. "No, now up da hill four inches, no a little down hill, to da right....."

This lastest most of the morning.

By the time we finally settled on a place to plant the lilac, it was getting late. I started digging the dirt in the spot where it will go, but decided to come back to it today. The dirt is surprisingly lousy there, full of rocks and a little bit of garbage like broken light bulbs and plastic that the strange, previous owner of my house buried.

I'll dig out an area much bigger than the lilac's root ball and replace it with quality soil. "I help you haul da good dirt here," Darlusz said.

"OK, but you'd better not be as picky as you were today," I said.  We have to get this thing planted tomorrow.