Lilac Tinkerbelle
‘Tinkerbelle’ blooming in May.
* Common name: Dwarf lilac Tinkerbelle(R)
* Botanical name: Syringa ‘Bailbelle’
* What it is: A small-leafed, dwarf lilac that flowers a fragrant pink in May. You’ll smell it across the yard. Resistant to borers and powdery mildew. Be patient because ‘Tinkerbelle’ needs about three years in the ground to hit full stride. Then it’s like fine wine and vegetable gardeners – it gets better with age.
* Size: About 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide.
* Where to use: Great specimen for sunny foundations, house or patio corners, on either side of walkways or near a window for inside sniffing pleasure. Much better choice for smaller yards than old-fashioned lilacs, which too often grow into gawky, mildew-infested small trees.
* Care: No spraying usually needed. May need light trim every few years right after blooming. Once established, very drought tolerant. Annual spring fertilizing with a balanced fertilizer is helpful but not critical.
* Great partner: Open base is best underplanted with low-growing flowers, such as purple annuals (petunias, verbena or alyssum) or white, pink, blue or purple perennials (creeping phlox, dianthus, plumbago or veronica).
Closeup of ‘Tinkerbelle’ flowers.
Good information but what about soil pH? What is required?
Neutral to slightly acidic soil (6.5 to 7 pH) is fine for lilacs.
hi, i have a tinkerbelle lilac tree, and in december 2016 we had a little ice storm and a feww branch broke, will it grow back, i planted it 3 years ago, please
The broken branches likely will push new shoots from below the break. Make a clean cut at the break and see what happens.
Even if the broken branches don’t resprout, you’ll get new shoots from around the base of the plant. It’s a good idea to remove about a third of the oldest shoots anyway each year after bloom and to let new ones replace them. That way all shoots are the best-blooming 1-, 2- and 3-year-olds.
I’m moving from Mass to Florida in June. When is the best time to dig up my Tinkerbelle lilac? Do I need to do anything special either digging it up or transplanting it? Thanks
Pam,
End of winter and early fall are the two best times to transplant (with early fall being top choice). Get as much of the rootball as possible, get it back into the ground in the new spot ASAP, and then keep the plant consistently damp for at least the first full year to help the disturbed roots recover.
Here’s a link to a more detailed piece I wrote on transplanting: https://georgeweigel.net/favorite-past-garden-columns/transplantaphobia
Can they handle full sun?
Debra,
Yes, lilac Tinkerbelle actually prefers full sun in our climate.
Mine isn’t flowering pink like when I got it. What fertilizer should I put down this fall to bring the PINK color back? Thank you.
Rachel,
Lime helps turn bigleaf hydrangeas pink, but I’m not sure if it has the same effect on lilacs… or if soil nutrition is behind your color change.
You might try a Penn State soil test (available at most garden centers or online at http://agsci.psu.edu/aasl/soil-testing/soil-fertility-testing) to see if anything is out of whack. If it is, the test also will tell you exactly what to add and in what amount.
George
Question: I have seen Tinkerbelle lilac shrubs and Tinkerbelle lilac trees. Can a lilac shrub be pruned to form a tree with a bare trunk and full rounded top, or are those tree varieties grafted onto other stock?
Alison,
Those are one and the same plant. Tinkerbelles (and any lilac, for that matter) can be trained as a single-stem tree or “standard” by pruning away all but one main leader, baring out the bottom, and letting the top branch out. You then have to keep removing the “suckers” (shoots coming up around the base) each year along with any other above-ground branches you don’t want to maintain the tree form.
My Tinkerbelle lilac has started to bloom. The flowers look fine but they practically don’t have any smell.
I thought this lilac had a sweet fragrance that some people describe as “spicy.”
John,
Fragrance can vary from year to year and plant to plant as well as from nose to nose. Smell again when the flowers are fully open to see if the scent doesn’t increase then. You might also have others take a whiff to see what they sense when the flowers are fully open.
I can tell you that the ‘Tinkerbelle’ I had in my Mechanicsburg yard was one of the most fragrant plants I’ve ever smelled. It would scent the entire backyard when it bloomed.
Thank you so much for your great answer.
I didn’t know about how fragrance can vary from “year to year and plant to plant”. That is totally a new concept to me, but it sure gives me hope!!
I forgot to mention that mine was purchased at the nursery only about two years ago, and the shrub is still only about 2-feet tall and the branches are thin. I didn’t mention it, because I thought flowers would be the same regardless of the age of the shrub. Your answer gives me hope in that maybe as it grows larger, perhaps the fragrance will get to be stronger. Thanks so much again!!
I have a ‘Tinkerbelle’ lilac tree that was damaged in a storm and lost the whole top over the course of the summer last year. This spring, there are 2 shoots coming out from the base. Can I somehow trim these and plant them to grow a new tree? Or do I have a better option? I really loved that tree!
Kristi,
‘Tinkerbelle’ grows from its own roots and not on a grafted rootstock, which means those shoots you’re seeing should eventually grow into what looks like your good old, pre-storm plant. If you’re patient (and if all goes well), you should see even more shoots emerge in the coming years, resulting in a decent-looking new shrub. However, that’ll likely take several years.
Shoots like you’re seeing also can often be clipped and rooted to make new “cuttings.” However, that would take even longer to give you a new plant of any size. That’s assuming you can even get the cuttings to root since there are variables like age of the wood, timing of the cut, and how vigilant you are in keeping the potted cuttings damp.
I think your better course is to keep the plant watered this summer if things go dry and to erect a wire cylinder around the perimeter of the plant to protect your two little “shoot babies” from getting eaten or broken by animals, mowers, stray soccer balls, etc. If those two break off, the plant might give up this time. There’s only so much stored energy left in the roots before the plant really needs to recharge itself by taking in sunlight through leaves.
Thank you George! What started as 2 shoots off the base has turned into many shoots and looks like it definitely could turn into a bush. I have hope that it could be pretty once again. I appreciate you taking the time to reply 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi George, my ‘Tinkerbelle’ lilac, which I planted 3 years ago, is growing many branches at the base, and up to approximately middle of the shrub. All the branches at the top are not growing any leaves at all this year.
Should I cut the top off? It looks rather strange at the moment with large leaves below, and nothing growing from about half way up.
Candy,
It sounds like something killed the leader — possibly a borer or some other injury at the intersection of live growth and dead wood. You should be seeing shoots by now, but just to be sure, try scraping a little bark off of the leafless area. If there’s no sign of green underneath, that part is dead and can be cut off to just above live growth.
You’ll be able to bring the plant back into form by shearing the remaining live growth into more of a pyramid… or whatever shape you like. The time to do that is right after the plant finishes blooming. Dwarf lilacs shear very well. You’ll have a shorter plant, but at least you’ll be able to shape what’s left.
One of my Tinkerbell lilac trees seems dead ..no leaves this spring..we transplanted it last spring and it was full of leaves and flowers. last year..we are in Ontario, Canada.
Any tips to try to save it
Sharon,
If it hasn’t leafed out by now, it’s very likely dead. If that’s the case, there’s nothing you can do but dig it up and try again… either with another lilac or another plant altogether.
Try scraping a little bark off of a few branches to be sure. If there’s green underneath, there’s a slim hope. If it’s brown underneath, that confirms the death. So would bending a few branches and finding that they snap instead of bend.
The shock of transplanting sometimes is enough to kill plants, especially if the roots were damaged or the weather didn’t cooperate or the plant didn’t get enough water in its new spot.