This is the week when I’ll be cutting flowers off my lilac bush daily.
Though this idea seems like rough treatment, it isn’t. I assure you that the lilac bush I have is at least 40 years old. The monster has been thriving since we moved into our house 23 years ago. This year its blooming with more flowers than ever before.
All plants should be pruned after they have flowered. In the case of lilacs and tulips, the plant will grow stronger if you cut off flowers before seeds set.
Old-fashioned lilacs have the best scent, but they also sucker terribly. Those have to be trimmed also.
You can also prune long lilac branches to keep bushes low. If you have a lilac that’s trained as a standard (ie one main trunk so that it looks like a tree), aggressive annual pruning keeps the tree looking good.
Be sure to cut no more than one-third of the tree branches to keep the beast in shape. More than that, and you could kill a wonderful bloomer.
