Lilac Care

  Lilac between a hedge and garage 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

I saw a comment pop up on an old post of mine from last May about Lilacs (at You Grow Girl) that I thought I would pull out and do my best to address here. The comment, or rather question was about a healthy seeming lilac bush that doesn't seem to be producing much in the way of blooms (or perhaps any). I did a bit of research into this as lilacs are one of my absolute favourites and I do worry a bit that the lack of hands on care that I give our lilac will result in a decline in the plants health. There have been (and continue to be) a lot of plants we inherited in this garden that I need to learn more about. Anyway.

From the reading and web searching I've done I can contribute the following info and a few more questions for any of you out there who have more knowledge or tricks up your sleeves:

• Lilacs apparently don't need heavy pruning but can do with a bit of thinning out. I know that my own bush sends off suckers and and new shoots a few feet away from the main bush as well as in the centre clump, pruning back some of these will apparently help the plant thrive as it is a heavy feeder or nutrient sucker so cutting back on some of the greedy shoots is a good idea. From what I've read I was a bit unclear as to when one should do this, so I'm not sure if it's a Spring prior to blooming thing or a Summer post-blooming activity. Do chime in if you know. (And I should mention everything I have read has specifically pointed out a need to not over prune, so don't go too nuts).


• Cutting off finished blooms is apparently one way to encourage a healthy crop of flowers the next year. Now if you're not getting any flowers that won't help, but I do know that this is something I have not done at all really, but have now logged into my garden journal for this June/July to take care of.


• Soil conditions: limey. Or so says the reading I've done. You can spread dolomite lime or other limey additives in November in my climate (zone 8ish/BC west coast).


• Dividing or moving: Here's where my big questions come in. I'm a bit worried about the location of my own lilac (between a healthy growing laurel hedge and a garage as seen in the photo there) and that lack of sunlight due to the physical constraints (it does face south so still gets lots of sun) will eventually cause it to suffer. If I wanted to take some of the offshoots and move them to a different spot in the yard, when would be the best time to do this? Or, say if I wanted to move the whole bush?

If any of you have any other tips for healthy lilac blooms do pass them on. I know I'm keen to do all I can to keep those gorgeous beauties bountiful each May.

(Cross-posted at You Grow Girl).

Comments

[Chris]

Hi. I lived in So. Cal and was surprised when I moved into my house 8 years ago that there was a large lilac. It blooms well if we have cool winters. Early warm springs seems to do it in. Also, I have had good crops of blooms every other year. I don't know why. I just trimmed my bush in june/july for the first time and we'll see if I have more blooms this spring. I am completely afraid to do much of anything to this bush - it now reaches above the garage roof. I'm not much of a green thumb, but midwestern plants are my love and they don't grow well in California - Iris and Lilac ( the smells of the color purple) I wish I knew more about this beautiful plant!

[yo mama]

II IT IN FULL SUN ?