How Do You Prune Lilac Bushes In Zone 5?
If you live in zone 5, you are probably very familiar with with sweetly scented harbingers of summer–the glossy leaved lilac. With a distinctive, heady scent and lovely nodding cones of white, lilac, rose, and deep purple blooms, zone 5 provides the ideal climate for these beautiful bushes. Prune carefully to promote more blooms and a healthier plant in the next growing season. Prune just after lilac flower blooms are spent for the season. Lilacs flower on old wood, meaning they produce buds in late summer that will over winter and bloom the following year. Pruning in winter or spring will likely remove the buds the bush nursed over winter, and leave you with a leafy bush and no lilacs. Remove spent blooms just below the bloom stalk at the first node or where the bloom stem meets the cane. This routine care every season will promote more buds and prevent unnecessary heavy pruning. Determine if your bush older than 3 years and looks spindly or blooms poorly. If so, cut back one-third o
