Lilacs
Today’s lilac varieties offer huge flowers and a big selection of color and scent. For the absolutely perfectly shaped lilac-bush you need to prune them each year. There are right ways and wrong ways to prune and also right an wrong seasons to do it in. Pruning is an important part of growing and caring for Lilacs and they should be pruned and maintained year for a beautiful healthy plant. If you have inherited a couple old, overgrown lilacs-they can be completely restored in several years with some good pruning techniques.
- Prune lilacs right after they flower. Next spring’s flowering buds are produced in late June or July so to avoid cutting them off you need to prune in late spring after the bush has bloomed. This will encourage the plant to produce flower buds for next year and not seeds.
- Clip old dead flowers at the base, also cut off suckers and shoots at or near ground level or where it comes out of the main trunk with your pruning shears. Leave a few strong and healthy new stalks each year, expecially if you are planning to trim back old wood from the plants.
- At this time, after you have cut off all spent flowers, you should also cut out a quarter of the oldest branches and take out any branches that are crossing over each other. You will most likely need a sharp saw for this if your bush is several years old. Old branches can be pretty woody and tough.
- Depending on weather conditions, lilacs can produce heavy blooms one year and few the next. Spring bloom are also influenced by the previous season’s weather. The best bloom follow cool, sunny summers. Buy your shrubs from a local nursery because they will specialize in plants that are zone hardy for your area.
- New plants can be kept up with light pruning but overgrown old shrubs may need to be cut back pretty severely. It takes young shrubs several years to begin to flower and old shrubs will flower poorly if they aren’t cut back.
- Do not be shy with this clearing of old branches because over the next couple years the old stems will be replaced by new growth. You can do this in late spring after blooming and also in even in late fall or early winter.
- Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers (such as lawn fertilizer), which encourages leafy growth at the expense of flowers.
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