How to Prune Giant Lilac Bushes

A giant lilac bush, waiting to be pruned.

Lilac bushes thrive well in proper light and soil conditions, soaring as high as 30 feet when left to grow at will. Knowing how to prune giant lilac bushes is important if you want to keep your landscaping looking well-maintained and neat. Learn how to prune and trim your lilacs without damaging them, to encourage healthy growth and keep the size of the giant plant in check. Lilac bushes can be an attractive addition to any landscaping project, but only if they're properly maintained.

Things You'll Need

• Garden shears
• Clippers

Instructions

1. Cut off wilted blossoms using standard garden shears, trimming the stem back to the leaves closest to the blossom. Make the cut just above the leaves, leaving the foliage intact.

2. Remove old stems at the ground level, trimming away the older growth with the shears or a pair of clippers. Cut away only the stems that are brittle to the touch or otherwise showing signs of weakness and age to encourage stronger stems to grow.

3. Trim away shoots sprouting from the main trunk that are growing within 4 inches of the soil surface.

4. Prune everything within 6 inches of the ground if the giant lilac bush is already too large to tolerate. The bush will take a few seasons to recover completely, perhaps as many as three years, but aggressive pruning is sometimes necessary with extremely large lilac bushes.

Tips & Warnings

• Prune lilac bushes once a year to encourage healthy growth and control the size of the plant. Bushes should be pruned in the fall, when the season for growing has passed.

References

• The Charleston Gazette: Into the Garden - Sweetly Scented Lilacs Require Only Pruning

Resources

• Dirt Simple: Pruning Deciduous Shrubs