The Lilac bushes are in bloom and have lost most of their leaves. Brought some home for my Bride today and she was very surprised. Are they blooming in other areas? Any idea what caused this to happen? I am 60 years old and can't remember it ever happening before.

I have seen it before but no idea why. I saw black raspberries last year with berries in the fall.

I have lots of lilac bushes,but they sure aren't blooming now on my side of the St.Croix.
Tom

Never seen it...Maybe they held off because it was too hot or dry or some other stress back in the spring and conditions are right now??

I love the fragrance of lilac blossoms. They don't grow well in Alabama though. I grew up in Kansas in the 1950s and 1960s and sure miss the smell of lilacs in the spring time.

Never in the 35 years I have lived here ,have I ever had a fall bloom.So it is a real strange incident that JD has.
Tom

Some newer varieties of lilacs are considered re-bloomers. I wonder if that is the case here?

To your knowledge, has there been any spraying of powerlines, fencerows, etc with brushkillers?

Rumor has it there are classes of sprays that work to screw up the plant's cycles. One is to get them to come out of dormancy in the fall, so are running sap when they freeze hard and that's how it kills them. Probably would not spray intentionally, but there can be drift.

So be on the lookout for plant damage next spring.

Ours did last year around this time, they looked like death but came back fine this year.

I seen it last year here in Iowa. Nothing like a spring bloom, but there were some flowers. First time I ever saw it.

Last year it looked like our Lilacs were all dying mid-Summer. Dropped all their leaves but then in late Summer leaves started coming back and they bloomed, but not full scale like they usually do. This year the same thing happened.

My son lives about 35 miles away and the same thing happened to theirs.

Moosetrot

Not a full bloom like they were in the spring. I am seeing the same type of bloom on Lilac bushes all around the county.

Ours have fall bloomed 2 years in a row now. They are about 20 years old.

Seeing the same thing down here JD.
I do not recall ever noticing this before, saw several bushes today that were in bloom.
They were big, older bushes with hardly any leaves.

Zim

I have never seen it, but there was a post on a Michigan wild-food foraging Facebook page I follow. The OP was asking if anyone had ever seen it before. They had photos like the one above.

They are pretty

I have never seen or heard of this , thanks for sharing ,

Ours here in Nebr. are blooming also. Not as nice as in the spring.

Yes, mine are blooming also. First time I ever remember them blooming in the fall and we have always had them, and I am 72. I have an apple tree that does the same thing. Looks dead in the summer, then blooms in the fall. Th lilac is an old variety that we took sprouts from my mother-in-laws plant many years ago.