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Pruning Lilacs

Hi Doug:  First of all thanks for the chuckle in todays email about the "tastey salmon spray".  Now for the question:  Hi Doug:  First of all thanks for the chuckle in todays email about the "tastey salmon spray".  Now for the question:  Why do some people dead head their lilac shrubs, I don't and they seem to be flowering the same every year.  I don't think it is necessay or is it?
Gail
St. Thomas Ontario


Doug says.


deadheading lilacsSome people have nothing better to do.  Some gardeners are compulsive.  Some just think they "have" to do it. And others want to do it because they think it looks neater.  Or even because they want to shape and trim the shrub.

But I'm with you - mine flower quite nicely all by themselves and at their age and height, I'll be darned if I'm going to climb around on ladders trying to prune the thousands of spent blooms.  Not going to happen in this gardener's lifetime. ;-)

But if you want to do it - just make sure you prune within a few weeks of the blooms finishing off.  Leave it any later and you're cutting off next year's buds (the buds form fairly quickly - within 6 weeks) of the flowers being finished.

Click here to ask a question about pruning lilacs




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pruning lilacs
Lilacs in Doug's garden