once the lilacs have ceased to blossom, when would be the best time to prune them. i want to encourage more blossoms. thanks. mo zone 4a.
lilacs
You would want to prune tham within a few weeks after flowering. If they are getting larger you could remove some of the older woodier canes to help the younger better flowering ones. What kind of lilac is it?
I usually trim mine in July/August. This is my purple bush......it's 4-5 yrs old.
I usually trim mine in July/August. This is my purple bush......it's 4-5 yrs old. You can see the white lilac in the background.
Sorry about the double post!
This message was edited Jun 2, 2007 9:50 AM
This is the white lilac tree....it's about 12-15' tall and has been here longer than I have! (21 yrs)
I thought you were older than 21.
I need tp prune my Royalty lilac to keep it in line soon. It doesn't flower a lot anyway.
Just a little older than 21.....shhhhhh don't tell anyone!
Try some epson salt around it and i bet you get twice as many blooms next year.
my lilac is the old fashion kind, so common here in n.h. yet the best scented.
Hi,
Would it be ok to move a small lilac now? It's about 3' feet tall and I don't know if it's better to do it now, it will still have at least 2 months to get settled before winter. Or should I wait until spring?
Thanks!
Should be no problem. Gets two seasons of growth before having to deal with the strain of Summer. Fall is great for planting in general.
Great thanks!
Pixie, your lilac is beautiful
Has anyone tried Josee? When I prune it properly (overall shear it), I get blooms in four flushes a year. It just bloomed, which reminded me it was there. Of course, sometimes I forget to prune it.
This message was edited Aug 24, 2007 10:46 PM
Hey, Josee sounds like a great lilac to have - is it fragrant like other lilacs?
Lilacs have varying degrees of fragrance. Some are described as very sweet, others more spicy. Most are rated from mild to extreme in fragrance, with the common vulgaris, like you see around old homesteads considered extreme. Most of the lilacs you see are the vulgaris or hyacinthiflora types, and have the typical lilac scent.
But there are tons of other lilacs with varying scents.
Josee is a syringa patula X macrophylla) X meyeri, and has a very sweet, more spicy scent, like Palibin.
There are quite a few other rebloomers. many of them are seedlings of Josee, or crosses of microphylla superba and meyeri Palibin . They all have the more sweet and spicy fragrance.
More than you ever wanted to know, right?
no, pollyk, I'm impressed! thanks for teaching me something new. :-)