HelpfulGardener.com

We bought our house 2 1/2 years ago and "inherited" amazing gardens. I am completely out of my league and trying to keep up and not ruin these gorgeous gardens!

My latest problem is our lilac...it is about 8 feet tall and blooms almost white. (No idea on type, but maybe this is helpful?) I cut it back a year or so ago by cutting branches at the stem and not just the ends and it bloomed beautifully last year. This year leaves did not come in on certain branches and it bloomed much later than other lilacs around. Now it looks like it is dying....dry dark green leaves - no lush foliage, and browned left over from the flowers.

What do I need to do? More watering? Fertilizer? Cut the dead wood?

THANK YOU for all the help in advance!

A picture would really help figure out what is happening to your lilac. Instructions for posting pix are in the introductory section under Helpful Tips and Suggestions for New Members.

Also tell us a bit more about the conditions. Is you lilac in full sun? What has the weather been like? Heat? Rainfall? Other than last year's pruning how have you been maintaining it?

But to start with, you mentioned the spent flower remains. If it hasn't already, those will be making seeds. It is always good to deadhead the lilac, that is cut off all the spent flowers as soon as they are done, before they start making seeds. 1) that lets the lilac use the energy for growth instead of for seeds, they are big seeds and there are thousands of them, so it is a drain. 2) lilacs that are allowed to go to seed, tend to bloom very sparsely the next year. It's an adaptation. Since the seeds are big and heavy and don't have a travel mechanism, they tend to stay in the vicinity. Not making a new crop of them next year, allows this year's seedlings to get established better before they get so much competition. Assuming what you want next year is more flowers, not a bunch of lilac seedlings, don't let it go to seed.

I have an old lilac that I believe was planted when my house was new, nearly 100 years ago. It is taller and probably a lot wider than yours and deadheading it each year is a big job, but produces buckets of compostables and I do it gladly to keep it blooming.

Here's a picture of mine in bloom (just because I love it!)



[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/4024%20Paddock%20garden/4-12_front_yardJPG.jpg[/img]