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Lilacs

Huge blooms, wonderful scent.

Credit: Wally Patrick
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Botanical name: Syringa

Plant type: Shrub

USDA Hardiness Zones: 3

Sun exposure: Full Sun, Part Sun

Soil type: Any

Soil pH: Neutral to Slightly Alkaline

Flower color: Red, Pink, Yellow, Blue, Purple, White

Bloom time: Spring, Summer

Who doesn't love lilacs? The ideal lilac shrub has about 10 canes and produces flowers at eye-level—all the better to enjoy that sweet, haunting fragrance.

Lilacs do come in seven colors but most are familiar with the common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, which blooms in the northern states for 2 weeks in late May. However, there are early-, mid-, and late-season lilacs, which, when grown together, ensure a steady bloom for at least 6 weeks.

Lilacs are hardy, easy to grow, and low maintenance. They can grow from 5 to 15 feet tall, depending on the variety. The fragrant flowers are good for cutting and attractive to butterflies.

Lilac Pictures

Click slideshow below to enjoy 7 lovely lilac pictures taken by our Almanac readers!

Planting

  • Grow lilacs in fertile, humus-rich, well-drained, neutral to alkaline soil (at a pH near 7.0). If your soil is in poor condition, add compost to enrich.
  • Select a site where your lilac will get full sun—at least 6 hours. If lilacs don't get enough sun, they will not bloom well.
  • Make sure the site drains well. Lilacs don't like wet feet and will not bloom with too much water.
  • Plant in either spring or fall, although the latter is preferred.
  • If you're lucky, a friend will give you a sucker, or offshoot, of the root system of one of his plants. 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. In 4 or 5 years, you'll be rewarded with huge, fragrant blossoms.
  • Transplanting lilacs from a nursery is also easy. If it's container-grown, spread out the roots as you settle the plant into the ground; if it's balled or burlapped, gentle remove it and any rope before filling in the hole. Water and wait.
  • Space multiple lilac shrubs 5 to 15 feet apart, depending on the variety.

Care

  • 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.
  • Lilacs won't bloom if they're overfertilized. They can handle a handful of 10-10-10 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.

Pruning Lilacs

  • Lilacs bloom on old wood, so it's critical to prune in the spring right after they bloom. If you prune later in the summer, you may be removing the wood. Here's a tip: If your lilac flower clusters are getting smaller, time to prune!
  • 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. Then, following a normal pruning program (as mentioned in above point).
  • Another option for an old lilac is to chop the whole thing back to about 6 or 8 inches high. It sounds drastic, but lilacs are very hardy. The downside to this option is that it takes a few years to grow back. The upside is less work and more reward, as the lilac will grow back bursting with blooms.

Pests

  • Prone to attack by slugs and snails.
  • Powder white mildew may appear after a summer of hot, humid weather. It may be unsightly, but it does no harm. Ignore it.

Recommended Varieties

The most common and fragrant lilacs are of the S. vulgaris variety:

  • For early bloom, try 'Charles Joly', a double magneta.
  • Mid-season lilacs include 'Monge', a dark reddish purple, and 'Firmament', a fine blue.
  • Late-season beauties include 'Miss Canada', a reddishpink, and 'Donald Wyman', a single purple.

Although common lilacs love cold weather, a few thrive as south as Zone 9, among them the cutleaf lilac, a fragrant pale lavender. Syringa patula 'Miss Kim' is a graceful shrub with pale lilac-blue flowers that fade to white.

Special Features

  • Attracts Butterflies

Wit & Wisdom

  • To improve the flowering of lilacs, keep the grass from growing around them. A 16- to 24-inch circle of landscape cloth placed around the bushes and covered with bark or stone will keep the grass down.
  • Force a winter bouquet from cut branches of lilac. Bruise the cut ends and set them in water. Spray the branches frequently. Keep them in a cool place until they bloom, then move to a warmer area for display.
  • Poet Walt Whitman thought of lilacs when Abraham Lincoln died: 
    "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd . . . I mourn'd, and yet hall mourn with ever-returning spring."

Comments

By Deloma Lusk on May 20

I have a Lilac bush that has been planted for about 6 years, all that grows on it is leaves. It's always had 2 suckers and they are only about 2 ft.tall. Is there something I need to do with the soil to help it grow more suckers and flowers?

By Flamingo on May 20

Hello! I recently moved into a house on Cape Cod. The yard has not been maintained and I just noticed that we have two lilacs on the property. I almost missed them because they are really tall and very skinny! One of them only has one branch and is about 9 feet tall with 3 flowers at the very top!! Should I trim the one branch to eye level like you suggested? Is there any way I can get it to spread its wings, so to speak? thanks for any help!

By Anonymous on May 20

we would like to cut the flowers and enjoy them inside the home, but they very quickly look like they are dehydrated and droop. what can we do /or add to the water in the vase to allow us to keep them more than just overnight.

By Anonymous on May 20

I grew up with lilacs in the yard and hoping to have that again. Will a lilac tree grow in Georgia.

By Anonymous on May 15

All of my neighbors have great lilac bushes ( I live in northern RI and have a river one house over and the river run off in back of my house). After admiring the bushes one of my neighbors gave me a cutting of the bush - a small stem with leaves and a flower at the end. How do I get it to grow roots so I can plant it outside? I currently have it in a clear vase with water in a sunny window.

By Anonymous on May 13

My Miss Kim lilac is about 4 -5 yrs old and has always bloomed well. This year 2/3 of the plant didn't leaf or bloom but there is a small bud on the end of each cane ( branch). Are they dead or dying? What should I do?

By Anonymous on May 12

I live in Vancouver Washington and I was given a WHITE lilac tree. It is very puny, about 4-5 ft. tall. It has been in a large pot for about 3-4 years. Lots of mildew & few blooms. It has many suckers around the bottom that have come up.
I want to put it into the ground. Please, any suggestions > I am a novice gardener.

By Anonymous on May 12

I am gonna try and pot a lilac plant for indoor use for a couple years due to I love lilacs but can't plant outdoors in my apt complex.. Any suggestions??

By Anonymous on May 11

Usually our Mss Kim has gorgeously colored fragrant flowers, but this year although prolific as usual, they are very pale in color? Lack of water? Too much fertilizer from the lawn it borders? The whole bush is pale and only the north side borders the lawn. Missing a nutrient? Is it just getting old? I planted it about 13 years ago. I would welcome any ideas.

By tagg on May 10

I live on the Oregon coast (zone 8a I believe) very near the ocean. I got a nice sized Ludwig Spaeth Lilac in 2.5 gallon container. It has been planted for almost 2 months and doing great and now this week it looks wilted. It's all droopy and all the new leaf buds have turned brown. It gets full sun. We have not had rain for two weeks so I've been watering every other day. I was told here the windy salt air dries out plants and they need more water. I may have over watered it? I'm hoping that's it and it will recover. All my neighbors have lilacs in full bloom right now. I wasn't expecting blooms, but I don't want to kill it. thanks.

By Anonymous on May 12

Is it draining properly? I have an all-container garden and struggle to learn what needs just how much water/drainage. Drainage usually fixes my problems. I mix in some vermiculite and/or sand to lighten it up some and make sure the container has holes in the bottom. Watering without a mess gets tricky, but i've found a nice middle ground.

By tagg on May 12

sorry, it is planted in the ground. I only mentioned the pot to indicate how large of a plant it was when I got it. It has been planted in the ground for two months. thanks! sorry about that confusion.

By Anonymous on May 9

Last year I thought I might have killed it because it did nothing, but this year it leafed out and had a bloom. It is still just a single shoot though. Is there anything I can do to encourage it to spread. I live in Oklahoma.

By Almanac Staff on May 10

Just remove the spent blossom and wait another year to prune. The lilac is still young and will spread on its own.

By Anonymous on May 6

I ordered these about 6 months ago and just recieved them. I want to plant them at my mothers grave. But they are so small, will it hurt to leave them in pots in the house till next spring when they are bigger? They are dwarfs.

By Almanac Staff on May 10

Yes, you can leave the lilacs in the pots. Keep them outside in full sun during the summer. Make sure to water them so that they don't dry out. Add a little fertilizer (10-10-10) to the pots. If they have grown bigger you can plant them in the fall.

By Anonymous on May 6

I planted a lilac in Indiana that I bought from a nursery in Ohio 3 years ago in June. The last two years it has been covered in buds but they never actually bloom. I thought last year it was because we had a freeze after it budded but this year all we had was a little frost.

By Almanac Staff on May 10

The freeze last year probably killed your buds. The frost this year may have delayed the blooms and you may still get some blooms when you have a nice stretch of warm weather.

By Anonymous on May 6

I live in Western Massachusetts, ideal weather for lilac trees.
Four years ago, I planted a fairly good sized tree...and since then, it hasn't bloomed.
So, you can imagine my surprise and delight, when I checked it today, and found 'ONE' single bloom.????.
It is covered with healthy leaves, and has grown about three foot since I planted it.

True mystery...anyone know what's going on.?

By Anonymous on May 9

I was told when i planted my first lilac bush they dont flower for the first 3yrs. they flower on old wood and it takes a few years to establish some old wood. That is why you have one bloom in yr.4, as i did.Read up on how to trim lilac bushes only apply it to your one old wood stem.Keep repeating every year until your bush gets established.HAPPY GARDENING!

By Anonymous on May 5

My lilac bush has probably 20 to 30 suckers that have grown. Should I cut some back? I live in Missouri. It's also so tall the limbs aren't straight up. Is there a way to attach a photo on here?

By Almanac Staff on May 10

You need to cut some or all of the suckers out and prune some of the limbs by about half to maintain a good shape. We recommend to prune 1/3 of the bush each year to still have some flowers in the spring and to bring the bush to a manageable size. Prune right after the flowers fade this spring.

By Anonymous on May 1

Have an old lilac bush (6 to 7 feet tall)that seems to have less blossoms each year. Should it be trimmed down and if so how much and when?

By Almanac Staff on May 3

Prune the bush after this year's flowers have faded. Cut about 1/3 of the shrub's stems down to about 3-4 feet. That will keep the plant rejuvenated. Next year cut another 1/3 of the stems and keep doing this each year to keep the bush flourishing and manageable.

By Anonymous on April 29

My mother gave me sappling about 8 years ago. Two years ago, it finally had 3 blossoms on it. Then, it did not do anything until this year and boy oh boy do i have blossoms!!! My questions are why did it take so long to blosson and can I cut them to enjoy them inside?

Thank you,
Cindy

By Almanac Staff on May 3

Sometimes it takes a lilac bush a few years to establish and start producing lots of flowers. And yes, do cut the flowers and enjoy them inside.

By Anonymous on April 27

In the spring, which comes first the leaves or the blossoms? I live in Georgia and am hoping for a bloom on the lilac I planted 2 years ago. Right now, end of April, it has all leafed out.

By Almanac Staff on May 3

Leaves come first. If you don't see buds yet you may have to wait another year before you see any flowers. Sometimes it takes a lilac a few years to get established.

By Anonymous on April 26

I have a suckering lilac in a large garden and I want to keep the lilac but remove the rest of the garden and put in grass all around it. I figured that to get the soil primed for grass growth I would dig up the soil all around the lilac. I have realized that I'm cutting a bunch of roots from the lilac bush, is this OK? Also, if I plant the grass will it help prevent suckers from sprouting up to the surface? Or will the suckers and the intense root system prevent my grass from growing? Many thanks.

By Almanac Staff on May 3

Leave a small area around the lilac without grass. Add mulch to this section to keep moisture in the soil and help keep the suckers from growing. It will also make it easier to mow the lawn around the lilac.

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