ALABAMA A&M and AUBURN UNIVERSITIES

LILAC CHASTE-TREE ADDS DISTINCTION TO LANDSCAPE

AUBURN, MAY 28---The lilac-chaste-tree has been around Southern landscapes a long time.  It's not for everyone, but under the right circumstances, this small, flowering tree adds distinction to the landscape.

The tree is often hacked and chopped to be kept as a shrub, but with a little selective pruning, it can become a multi-stem tree 10-15 feet high with an equal spread, says Dr. David Williams, an Extension horticulturist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

Lilac chaste-tree is distinctive because of its ornamental features. It has palmate-shaped, aromatic, gray-green leaves.  It bears 3- to 6-inch terminal white, pink or blue flower spikes in the summer, which are also fragrant.  This tree also is a recurrent bloomer so some flowering may continue sporadically until fall.

The tree is hardy throughout Alabama but 0? temperatures may cause significant above-ground damage to parts of the plant.  If this occurs, some renewal pruning will be needed.  It flowers on the current season's wood so even if it dies back to the ground flowers will arise from the new growth.

The flowers are highly attractive to bees, says Williams.  In fact, it may be undesirable to place the tree near some high-traffic areas because of the bee activity when the tree flowers.

Lilac chaste-trees are drought-tolerant and seem to do better in dry locations than in wet soils. Although it doesn't have any major pest problems, it is known as a short-lived tree. It starts
declining after about 20 years.

Mulch or a groundcover of daylilies, Asiatic jasmine, vinca, liriope or various junipers installed in beds with a lilac chaste-tree can accentuate the tree's multi-stem, upright-arching growth.  Pruning lower branches encourages the tree form of the plant, Williams adds.
 
SOURCE:  DR. DAVID WILLIAMS, Extension horticulturist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, (343) 844-3032.