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How to Grow a Lilac Bush

Huge blooms, wonderful scent.

Photo Credit
Wally Patrick
Botanical Name
Syringa spp.
Plant Type
Shrubs and Bushes
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Part Sun
Soil pH
Neutral to Slightly Alkaline
Bloom Time
Spring
Summer
Flower Color
Blue
Pink
Purple
Red
White
Yellow
Hardiness Zone
2
3
4
5
6
7
Special Features
Attracts Butterflies

Planting, Growing, and Pruning Lilacs

Catherine Boeckmann
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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 to enjoy their sweet fragrance.

About Lilacs

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 two 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 six weeks.

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Planting

Lilacs thrive in fertile, humus-rich, well-drained, 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 being at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. Given less, they will not flower as well. 

When to Plant Lilacs

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

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—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: Pruning 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 one, half of the remaining old wood in year two, and the rest of the old wood in year three. 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 one to three 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.”
Varieties

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

The most common and fragrant lilacs are of the Syringa 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 reddishpink, 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’ (Syringa 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’ (Syringa 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!

Gardening Products

Pests/Diseases

  • 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.

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.

Cooking Notes

Lilac flowers are edible, but flavor varies among cultivars, from no flavor to “green” and lemony flavors. Gather insect- and disease-free blooms early in the day. Avoid any that are unopened or past their peak. Wash the flowers gently in cool water. Pat them dry and refrigerate until ready to use.

Consider making candied lilac flowerets for a special cake decoration: Separate the individual flowers. Using tweezers, dip each one into a beaten egg white, reconstituted egg white powder, or packaged egg whites. Then, dip the flower in finely granulated sugar. Set it aside to dry before placing it on a cake.

Shrubs and Trees
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

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

Jo Westra (not verified)

9 years 11 months ago

I live on a farm and we have a nice row of lilacs but the weeds are starting to take over. I pulled and hoed them last fall, but they are coming back. I would like to spray the weeds but am worried I will kill the lilacs. Is there a weed killer that won't harm the lilacs?

kitty lahart (not verified)

9 years 11 months ago

I bought a big beautiful lilac from a local plant sale. I live in Northeasteen north carolin. It looked great then I brought it home did some research put it in a mostly sunny locatio. A few days later all the flowers fell off and now I'm getting brown spot. What's happening? ? =(

Homesick (not verified)

9 years 11 months ago

I recently moved from upstate NY to northeast FL, and really miss my lilacs. I've read that there are some varieties of lilacs that can grow here (zone 9a). Is that true? And if so, when is the best time to plant? Our soil is on the sandy side. Would that be a problem?
I would so love to have lilacs, but I'm not a gardener. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you

There are a few varieties that will grow as far south as zone 9. 'Blue Skies', 'Miss Kim' and 'Lavender Lady' are just a few. Best time to plant trees in Florida is in the winter and when the ground is moist.

julie maleitzke (not verified)

10 years ago

I live 45 miles north of St.Paul, Mn and have had a Korean lilac tree for approx. 7years. Last spring we had some kind of bugs eating the tree at the base. We got rid of them and now 1/3 of the tree is dead and many sprouts are coming around the bottom. How can I help this tree and stop the sprouts from shooting up. Should I use mulch around the base? Thank you!

Kat Studnek (not verified)

10 years ago

I live in east central Minnesota. My Lilac bush has green buds from bottom to top. Last year I thought maybe the deer roaming thru our farm were eating whatever buds they could reach, however, i keep reading that they are deer resistant. Do you know of any reason the buds only stay on the top branches and bloom??

Lilacs are considered more deer-resistant than most plants but also keep in mind that no plant is truly deer-resistant; this simply means that deer will pass up the lilac if there's something better available. 
When the lilac buds and blooms are too high to reach, it means you haven't been pruning your lilac. Start by removing at least one-third of the large, old stems at ground level in late winter. The next winter, prune out one-half of the remaining old stems.  See the pruning information on this page.

JasmineMadAbou… (not verified)

10 years ago

Hi, Recently I saw lilacs in pots at a local nursery, and I love lilacs! I want to buy one (a nice and small Madam Lemon, the white French kind) But I would like to keep it in a pot for a couple of years, as we are planning to redo the garden landscaping in a year or two.... the plant was not too big (only half a meter or so) do you think I can keep them in a pot or will they get upset for limited space for their roots? :) thanks in advance. also what would I need if I am keeping them in a pot? (any kind of fertilizers, change of the soil, etc.?) Would really appreciate any advice. as I wanna get them while they are there.... oh, also, Are they winter hardy? will they last outdoors in Toronto winters or should I put them in the basement if they are in a pot ? :) Thanks in Advance!

Lilacs can be grown in pots (large containers are best) in the short term. They need lots of sun. Keep them well watered and add a handfull of 10-10-10 fertilizer to the pot when replanting. You need to protect the roots from freezing temperatures. If you leave them outdoors you can dig holes in a protected spot in your garden and bury the containers. Add some mulch around the stems. You can also store the lilacs in an unheated garage or a cool basement.