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Michelle’s Lilac Tree – A New Base!

Posted on by John Hanby
April 2019 – A nice tree to have on your bench with its annual abundant showing of sweet scented flowers. Unfortunately this tree has a really poor base with multiple small roots extending several inches up the trunk and above soil level. It would need a very deep pot to hide these exposed roots which aesthetically would not look good.
November 2021 – In its winter image the problem with the base becomes more obvious.
July 2024 – Twelve months previously we made some small windows around the multiple trunks and treated them with rooting hormone powder. We then formed the shape of a pot around the base of the tree with plastic potting mesh and filled it with a mix of equal parts akadama and chopped sphagnum moss.
In the picture above having removed the mesh we have now taken the tree out of its pot. There is now a solid mass of roots and compost around the base of the tree covering the original offending multiple roots.
The original rootball is now “somewhat” carefully removed!
The deed is done.
The Lilac tree with its new root system.
The tree repotted into a training pot to allow the new roots to develop further so that in the future we can get the tree into a shallower pot. The foliage was trimmed back to take pressure off the roots following this work.

A simple technique but the change in the tree is quite dramatic. What was a major fault spoiling the appearance of the tree has now been replaced with a nice solid base which greatly improves its stature and credibility.