Any suggestions? I am trying to find out what is going on with my old fashion lilac. I started it from a sapling about 15 years. It has four off shoots that are probably 10 years old. This year the flowers again where huge and gorgeous. But I have now noticed the density of the leaves is really sparse they are yellowing with some brown spots.
I don't know what to do. I planted seedlings 3 yrs ago, some are 6' tall and some 3' tall, I haven't pruned them yet and haven't had any flowers yet, should I prune them back a little will that help? Thank you Frank. Are you fertilizing these plants? Too much nitrogen will favor leaf formation over flowers. Do not fertilize. They do like soil with a pH of 6. Do a soil test—even a simple one—and see if the pH is within the range. Skip to main content. You are here Gardening » Growing Guides.
By Catherine Boeckmann. Huge blooms, wonderful scent. Wally Patrick. Lilacs thrive in fertile, humus-rich, well-drained, neutral to alkaline soil at a pH near 7. If your soil is in poor condition, add compost to enrich. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.
For strong bloom, lilacs require full sun—at least 6 hours—or they will not flower well. Make sure the site drains well. Plant in either spring or fall, although the latter is preferred.
Your sucker will look pathetic at first but just dig a hole, backfill it with soil, and stick the sucker in. Then water and wait.
Transplanting lilacs from a nursery is also easy. Set the plant 2 or 3 inches deeper than it grew in the nursery, and work topsoil in around the roots. Water in. Then fill in the hole with more topsoil. Space multiple lilac bushes 5 to 15 feet apart, depending on the variety. Each spring, apply a layer of compost under the plant, followed by mulch to retain moisture and control weeds.
Water during the summer if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week. They can handle a handful of in late winter, but no more. After your lilac bush has finished blooming, spread some lime and well-rotted manure around the base. Trim the bush to shape it, and remove suckers at the same time. If you prune later in the summer, you may be removing the wood.
Every year after bloom, remove any dead wood. Prune out the oldest canes down to the ground. Remove the small suckers. Cut back weak branches to a strong shoot. Cut back tall canes to eye height. If your lilac is old and in really bad shape, remove one-third of the oldest canes down to the ground in year one, half of the remaining old wood in year two, and the rest of the old wood in year three. Another option for old lilacs is to chop the whole thing back to about 6 or 8 inches high.
It sounds drastic, but lilacs are very hardy. This variety has light green, heart-shaped leaves and produces very fragrant lavender-purple blooms that fade to pink as they mature. Fully double flowers of pink on the common lilac cultivar 'Paul Thirion' will give your spring floral arrangements extra petal power. This somewhat smaller variety looks right at home by the front porch or the patio, where its growth habit won't interfere with foot traffic.
It has very dense foliage but is somewhat leggy, with the foliage typically starting about 2 feet off the ground. Because a lilac shrub can live for decades, it's important to choose a cultivar with a timeless appearance. A white-blooming variety like the 'Madame Florent Stepman' lilac can give the spring garden a traditional look while complementing any house color.
This is a typical common lilac in every way but one: rather than the usual pink and purple flowers, this cultivar produces dense panicles of creamy white blooms. It blooms 7 to 10 days earlier than other lilacs, with reddish-purple buds giving way to pale pink flowers. The upright form makes it perfect to add to your landscape as a single specimen, as part of a border, or as a group planting.
The variation in tone between buds and open blossoms gives the appearance of layers of pigment, as in a Monet painting. Prune after flowering to keep this lilac at a manageable height. You can coax even earlier blooms with the practice of forcing , which is cutting branches in bud to be brought into bloom indoors. This variety has deep reddish-purple flowers with single petals.
Its open, upright growth habit remains quite attractive in the landscape even after the flowers fade. The Meyer or Korean lilac is not known to exist in the wild; it was first discovered in a Beijing garden in Unlike the common lilac, which can be a chore to keep pruned, the Korean lilac is a smallish shrub that grows to no more than 8 feet high.
The 'Palibin' cultivar is an even shorter plant, at 5 feet high, but its 7-foot spread creates enough heft for use in a spring border without overwhelming the average suburban lot. The dense growth habit makes it a good candidate for a hedge, too. The flowers are pale pink, blooming in April and May. As a bonus, the shrubs are resistant to mildew. Every May, the lavender to ice-blue fragrant flower panicles of 'Miss Kim' will announce that spring has arrived.
Thanks to its cold and heat tolerance, this variety has a wide following, from Minnesota to Georgia. Littleleaf lilacs belong to another subspecies of S. They're shorter, wider shrubs than the common lilac, and the 'Superba' cultivar is even broader, growing to 14 feet wide while remaining only about 7 feet high.
It has a number of additional advantages, including more petite leaves; lush, rosy-pink flowers; a small rebloom in summer and fall; and better resistance to powdery mildew. This is the rare lilac that offers full season appeal. All are beautiful in their own right, and most give off one of the most alluring smells in the world. Do you want blooms with huge florets to cut and and place in a vase, filling your home with the sweet smell of springtime? This cultivar thrives in Zones and reaches a dazzling height of 10 to 12 feet tall with a spread of eight to 10 feet.
You can find bare roots or a live plant in a three-inch container available at Nature Hills Nursery. This shrub forms soft-pink buds that bloom into white, double-flowered blossoms. Delicately beautiful, the flowers are also highly fragrant. Cut one or two clusters from the plant, put them in a vase, and enjoy the sweet smell of springtime throughout your entire house.
You can find bare roots to plant available at Nature Hills Nursery. Find plants in three-inch containers available at Nature Hills Nursery. Do you need some magenta in your life right about now?
This sweet-smelling shrub grows up to 12 feet tall with a spread of 10 feet, and thrives in Zones But its striking double-flowered blooms are its most treasured trait. Blooming begins from mid- to late spring and lasts three to four weeks. You can find plants in two-inch containers available at Nature Hills Nursery. It was brought to the United States from Europe in the s.
Its lavender-colored flowers give off that classic, sweet scent. If you want to do the same, you can find bare root plants from Nature Hills Nursery. With snow-white blooms and a heavy, heady fragrance, this shrub blooms in mid-spring to early summer and offers everything lovely about lilacs to those who prefer white to purple.
Find bare root plants online at Nature Hills Nursery. Dwarf Korean S. A recipient of the Award of Garden Merit in , this cultivar also won a gold medal from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in Dwarf Korean. The purple flowers bloom profusely in the spring and give off a sweet fragrance. They close out the summer with one light rebloom to leave you with a sweet memory until it blooms again next spring. Find bare root plants, three-inch, or five-inch containers from Nature Hills Nursery.
The dark reddish bark makes an attractive statement in your yard even once the leaves drop off in the fall.
Find bare root plants, as well as five-inch containers, available at Nature Hills Nursery. Instead, use a balanced fertilizer, following label instructions. There are several types of lilac bushes that vary somewhat in appearance, including:. Pruning is critical for lilacs, both to promote flowering and to ensure air circulation to prevent powdery mildew and other problems. The right time to prune is just after flowering is over, as lilacs bloom on old wood.
Prune branches to thin out the growth for better air circulation and to keep the height of the shrub in check. Cut the oldest branches to the ground, as they won't be strong flower producers anymore, but don't take off more than a third of the total branches. Also, prune any weak or damaged branches. Anyone who has grown lilacs knows how readily they expand. Most lilacs are clump-forming plants that spread via shoots extending from the trunk. And these shoots can be used for propagation.
Not only is this an inexpensive way to gain a new lilac bush, but it also prevents the existing lilac from becoming overcrowded. The best time to propagate is in the late spring to early summer to give the shoot enough time to become established before cold weather sets in.
To propagate, simply dig down around one of the shoots and cut it from the main plant, keeping the roots intact. Then, replant the shoot in rich soil wherever you wish, and keep its soil lightly moist but not soggy at all times until it's established. Lilacs are fairly hardy shrubs and can survive most pest and disease problems. However, they are susceptible to several. The fungal disease powdery mildew is commonly seen on lilacs, especially during humid summers.
It creates whitish powdery patches on the foliage. There are both chemical fungicides and natural methods for combatting powdery mildew. Common pests that can affect lilacs and damage their foliage include scales and borers. If you spot these tiny insects on the stems and undersides of leaves, treat your plant with neem oil or another insecticide.
Lilacs generally bloom in the mid- to late spring, though the exact timing can differ based on the variety. The conical clusters of tiny four-lobed flowers have an exceptionally sweet fragrance. The blooms only last for a couple weeks, but they should readily rebloom each year on a healthy plant. Deadheading, or removing the spent blooms, isn't necessary.
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