How to Care for your Lilacs
Springtime has fully arrived when the sweet scent of the Lilacs is wafting through the garden. Lilacs have such a small blooming window, which means there are a few tricks to helping them be healthy and getting the most blooms. Here’s exactly how to feed your lilac bushes and when to prune them. If you prune them at the wrong time you’ll be cutting off all of the blossom heads so come hang out in the garden with us, we’ll show you exactly what to do. Plus did you know there’s a trick to keeping the blooms from wilting once you cut them? All of the goodness is below to help you get the most out of your lilac bushes.
Spring Time Fertilizer : Once lilacs are established their roots go so deep they’re able to draw an amazing amount of nutrients from the soil. Which means they do not need lots of fertilizer or you worrying about feeding them all throughout the year. Instead you can give them one of these fertilizer spikes either in the Spring or Fall and let the lilac do what it does best - grow and mature, bloom and rest.
Don’t Prune in the Spring! Lilacs bloom on the ends of the branches that grew all through the summer and then rested through the winter. If you prune your lilac in the spring, you’ll be cutting off the bloom heads! Wait to prune until your Lilac is done blooming. I try to get out and prune them back within a couple weeks of the last blooms fading. Here’s a step by step video on how we prune ours to help them grow healthy, keep their shape and produce bushels of blooms.
Where to Grow Lilacs : Lilacs are hearty! They will grow best in climates that have at least 6 weeks of cold where your weather dips into the 30’s or below. They actually NEED the freezing temperatures in order to rest and grow properly. You will have the happiest, healthiest bush if it’s planted in full sun. They can grow in partial shade but you’ll notice your plant stretching and reaching for the sun which will make it hard for you to keep it nicely shaped, and even harder for the lilac to bloom.
How to Keep Lilac Blooms from Wilting : There’s a very simple trick! You need to smash or open the stem, and remove some of the bark so the blossom stems can drink the water. Plus if you give the stems a little dip in steaming hot water it will help them to stay fresh even longer. This video shows you how!
How to Start a New Lilac Bush from a Cutting : Yes! You can start new Lilac Bushes from a cutting, but I must say as fun as it is to propogate new ones, Lilacs are very slow growing. New lilac bushes can take up to 7 years to begin blooming, so if you’re in a rush to get your garden growing I suggest buying an established mature bush. I know there are lots of folks though who want to take cuttings from their parents or grandparents gardens - oh how I wish I could have gotten a cutting from my grandma’s lilac! It was her favorite flower. If you’re up for the challenge here’s a step by step video on how to propagate!
If your Leaves are looking Sad : Lilacs can get fungus and leaf curl - one of the things that will help your Lilac to be healthier is pruning so make sure to follow the Video to get as much of the unhealthy growth off. But even still, some years we need to spray our Lilacs with this Copper Spray to kill off any fungus that might be trying to spread.
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If you’re looking at your garden thinking how do I figure out what to grow? Here’s our Garden Planning Guide, it walks you through simple steps to decide what to grow and where, plus we included our own garden maps, lists of the flowers and vegetables we love to grow and when we start them. We love cheering you on!
