Growth under Korean Lilac Tree

[ImpatientGardener]

Hi there,

I have some growth appearing under my Korean Lilac tree. Need help identifying it and wondering if it is safe to cut it down if its shoots from roots?

[rainbowgardener]

Several things in the picture, some hosta, some solomon seal, but yes the woody twigs are suckers from the lilac and can be cut off at the base.

[ImpatientGardener]

Any way to get rid of them (the suckers) permanently without harming the tree?

[rainbowgardener]

When you cut the sucker off at the base, you have gotten rid of that one permanently.

If you mean is there a way to keep your lilac from producing more of them, then no. That is the growth pattern of the lilac... it spreads from the roots to produce a large colony/thicket of lilac. You can let some of them grow to become new stems for when you need to cut the oldest stems out.

Lilac is a bush, not a tree. In its natural form, it is a large spreading colony

[ImpatientGardener]

When you cut the sucker off at the base, you have gotten rid of that one permanently.

If you mean is there a way to keep your lilac from producing more of them, then no. That is the growth pattern of the lilac... it spreads from the roots to produce a large colony/thicket of lilac. You can let some of them grow to become new stems for when you need to cut the oldest stems out.

Lilac is a bush, not a tree. In its natural form, it is a large spreading colony

Thanks. Mine was grafted to a trunk. I didn't know they spread via the roots.

[rainbowgardener]

If your tree is grafted then the suckers are coming from the roots of the trunk. I think typically the Korean lilac tree is grafted on to a Japanese tree lilac (syringa reticulata). It forms the "standard" that the Korean lilac is grafted on to. But that means the suckers are from the Japanese lilac which is white flowering. But it is also a lilac and has the same spreading/ suckering habit.

But it does mean that you probably do want to prune out the suckers: 1) leaving them will destroy the tree shape of your Korean Lilac and 2) they will produce a different and maybe less desirable lilac.