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Planting and Growing Lilac Bushes

purple Yankee Doodle Lilac flowers

Huge blooms, wonderful scent.

Image Credit:
Wally Patrick
Botanical Name
Syringa spp.
Grown as
Perennial
USDA Zones
3a
3b
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7b
Toxicity
Non-toxic
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Partial Sun
Water Needs
Moderate
Height
6-10 feet
Spread
6-10 feet
Soil pH
Neutral
Bloom Time
Spring
Summer
Flower Color
Blue
Pink
Purple
Red
White
Yellow
Special Features
Container-Friendly
Cut Flower
Fragrant
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Hummingbirds
Attracts Pollinators
Deer-resistant
Rabbit-resistant
Resilience
Cold Hardy
Drought-Tolerant
Plant Type
Shrubs and Bushes
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Lilacs truly smell like spring! Lilacs are among the most carefree spring-flowering shrubs and provide a sweet, haunting fragrance, too! Learn how to plant, grow, and prune your lilacs.

Lilacs, said to symbolize the joy of youth and associated with spring’s awakening, are hardy, easy to grow, and low-maintenance. Although they can reach heights of 5 to 15 feet (or more), depending on the variety, the ideal lilac shrub produces flowers at eye level—all the better for enjoying their sweet fragrance.

The common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is well loved for its toughness, reliability, and fragrance. In fact, lilacs are so tough that they can grow for 100+ years, often outliving the homes they were planted around. The fragrant flowers are good for cutting and are attractive to butterflies.

While the blooms are usually lilac/purple in color (from very pale to very dark), there are also lilac varieties in white and cream and even pink and yellow. Individual flowers can be single or double.

In northern states, lilacs bloom for about 2 weeks from mid- to late spring. However, there are early-, mid-, and late-season lilacs, which, when grown together, ensure a steady bloom for at least 6 weeks.

Planting

When to Plant Lilacs

  • Like most shrubs, lilacs can be planted in either spring or fall, although the latter is preferred.

Where to Plant Lilacs

Lilacs thrive in fertile, humus-rich, well-draining, neutral to alkaline soil (at a pH near 7.0). If your soil is in poor condition, mix in compost to enrich it. (Learn more about soil amendments and preparing the soil for planting.) Choose or prepare a site that drains well. Poor drainage or pooling water can cause “wet feet,” potentially leading to root rot, stunted growth, and/or failure to flower. Test soil drainage by digging a hole 8 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep. Fill it with water; if it does not drain within an hour, choose another spot.

For the best blooms, lilacs should be planted in full sun, which is defined as at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. Given less, they will not flower as well. 

How to Plant Lilacs

  • If you’re lucky, a friend will give you a sucker, or offshoot, of the root system of one of their plants. The sucker will look pathetic at first, but 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 nursery-bought lilacs 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, gently remove the covering and any rope before planting. Set the plant 2 or 3 inches deeper than it grew in the nursery and work topsoil in around the roots—then water in. Then, fill in the hole with more topsoil.
  • Space multiple lilac bushes 5 to 15 feet apart, depending on the variety.

Growing

  • 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.

How to Prune 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. Note: If your lilac flower clusters are getting smaller over a few years, it’s 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.
  • The ideal lilac shrub has about 10 canes. If your lilac is old and in really bad shape, remove one-third of the oldest canes (down to the ground) in year 1, half of the remaining old wood in year 2, and the rest of the old wood in year 3. 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. 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.
  • It must be recognized that severe pruning results in the loss of blooms for 1 to 3 years. For these reasons, a wise pruning program aims to avoid severe and drastic cuts by giving the bushes annual attention.
  • Good Sucker Sense: Gertrude Jekyll, the 19th-century no-nonsense English horticulturist (1843–1932), advocated a strenuous exercise: “When taking away suckers … it is better to tear them out than to cut them off. A cut, however close, leaves a base from which they may always spring again, but if pulled or wrenched out, they bring away with them the swollen base.”

Pests and Problems

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

Types

For early flowers, try Syringa x hyacinthiflora hybrids; they bloom 7 to 10 days before S. vulgaris. Its fragrant blooms attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

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

  • Try ‘Charles Joly’, a double magenta flower, an early bloomer.
  • Mid-season lilacs include ‘Monge’, a dark reddish purple, and ‘Firmament’, a fine blue.
  • Late-season beauties include ‘Miss Canada’, a reddish-pink, and ‘Donald Wyman’, a pink-purple flower.

Uncommon types/varieties include … 

  • S. x ‘Penda’ Bloomerang Purple: flowers in spring, pauses, then flowers again from midsummer through fall.
  • Although common lilacs love cold weather, a few thrive as far south as Zone 8, including cutleaf hybrid S. x laciniata, with fragrant, pale lavender flowers, and S. pubescens ssp. patula ‘Miss Kim,’ with pale, lilac-blue blooms that fade to white.

Small Lilacs
For gardeners, especially those in urban spaces, who just don’t have the room for the traditional larger lilac, there are compact varieties! They’ll even grow in a container on your patio or balcony.

  • ‘Baby Kim’ grows only 2 to 3 feet high (and 3 feet wide) in a nicely rounded shape with purple flowers that attract butterflies. Extended hardiness from Zones 3 to 8.
  • ‘Little Lady’ (S. x) is a compact lilac that matures to 4 to 5 feet tall and wide with dark pink buds that open to lilac-pink flowers. Hardy in Zones 2 to 7.
  • ‘New Age Lavender’ and ‘New Age White’ (S. vulgaris) are super-compact, growing from 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, and bred for mildew resistance. Their fragrant flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Hardy to Zone 4.

See more lilac varieties!

Wit and 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 shall mourn with ever-returning spring.”
  • Lilacs supposedly symbolize the joy of youth. Learn about more flower symbolism here.
  • The lilac belongs to the olive family, Oleaceae.
  • Lilacs are the state flower of New Hampshire.

Shrubs and Trees

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Skeet White</span> Tue, 07/07/2015 - 11:17

We trim our lilac bush every few years when it gets really tall. This year, we trimmed it after it bloomed like always. We had big dead branches down in the middle and one was old and rotten so I broke it off. The bush seem to look dead and still does. What did I do to it?

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 07/09/2015 - 10:30

It's always wise to remove any dead or broken branches when pruning an older bush. Look around the bottom of the bush to see if you have any new growth or suckers. Add some lime and compost to the soil and wait until next spring to see if the bush will survive.

 <span>Abby W.</span> Mon, 07/06/2015 - 13:32
I live in WI and I have a lilac bush, it's about 5 yr old. My dad pruned it at the wrong time. It blooms very little every year. How can I salvage it? And how can I keep the morning glories from choking it? A few years ago my sister rotartilled the old dried up vines in the garden and now I have non stopping growing morning glories over powering. I am constantly pulling them. I sure could use some help.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 07/08/2015 - 14:55

Hi, Abby, Lots to deal with here. First, are you sure that you have morning glories, the self-seeding annual, or is it more likely that you have binderweed, the invasive weed? We think it's bindweed, or field bindweed, aka  false morning glory. It has plagued fields, farms, and yards for years. Here are some suggestions from a coop extension in your state—more than we could tell you here. Go to this link and click on the pdf below the "Description" information: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Assets/pdfs/A3924-19.pdf

As for the lilac, don't be too hard on your dad; you might really appreciate his help elminating the bindweed. There is probably more going on with the lilac than the effects of a pruning sometime in the past. For example, you may have a variety that is not hardy in your part of Wisconsin. Or it may be getting too much nitrogen. Or not enough sun. Click on this link; it's a pdf with details about lilac varieties and care from the same Wisconsin source: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/A3825.pdf

We hope this helps.

 <span>Lana Crichton</span> Thu, 06/18/2015 - 20:53
Last fall Calgary had two freak snow storms during the evening (after midnight)with wet snow that clung to the large leaves and trees.After the first snow storm my son and I where able to shake the wet snow from the canopy of the lilacs.However after the second snow storm the weight of the wet snow managed to break the trees just below the canopy like a Chinese lantern.Our arborist recommended that we cut the tree back close to the ground to let it rejuvenate, it was cut back in the winter when the trees were dormant. This spring it has had new growth from the remaining stumps,however I really want to prune it so it becomes a tree (like it was before it was cut back) not a shrub like it is currently.How and when do you recommend to do this without killing the tree that was put into shock so much since last fall?The trees are old ( planted in the early 80's) but the roots are well established, in a sunny well watered area.How long do you think it will take to recover and bloom again.Imiss the original trees as the were great for privacy ,and spring fragrance and color. Thank you ,Lana Crichton
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 06/19/2015 - 15:04

Cut out all the thin suckers coming up around the plant at the base. Then check the lilac when it is dormant to select the shrub's strongest two or three branches and remove all others.

 <span>Herb Miklosovic</span> Sat, 06/06/2015 - 15:14
I have a vine plant that is growing and wrapping around my lilac bushes. it is a thin plant and it seems to be chocking the lilac stems and causing them to die. what could it be and can it be eradicated safely with out ant further damage to the lilac bush.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 06/08/2015 - 13:02

Not knowing what type of vine you have it's hard to give advice. You can try to cut the vines back to soil level as soon as you see them. You can dig down a bit to see if the vine has spreading roots or if you can dig up the roots. Take a piece of the vine to your local nursery and see if they can identify it. Some people use Roundup on just the plants they want to get rid of. There are not many organic alternatives to Roundup.

 <span>Carolyn_Qccaper</span> Tue, 06/02/2015 - 20:31
I have moved into a house in Cape Breton on the ocean coast. There is an about 10yr old lilac. It got blossoms, but just as they were to flower, they turned brown and dry. Has anyone any idea why
<span>Corners</span> Thu, 06/04/2015 - 22:53
They dont flower for long. When the flower browns and shrivels it means its dead already. Sometimes if they get soggy they will die quick also. The Maine has been plastered with rain. Most of my flowers are browning already also.