How to grow lilacs | Thompson & Morgan Blog

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Three colours of lilac cut flowers - purple, mauve and white - shown spiling over the edges of a dark ceramic vase placed on a wooden table that's inside a wooden cabin — Lilac shrubs are available an array of colors and have a wonderful perfume

Lilac is a quintessential cottage backyard shrub, with varieties that vary in dimension from massive ‘customary’ specimen lilac bushes to compact bushes for rising in patio pots. Lilac shrubs are available a improbable vary of colored blooms with a stunning scent, making them a wonderful function for each backyard.

Discover ways to develop low-maintenance lilac shrubs with this helpful information! These powerful and undemanding crops burst into bloom each spring and wish little or no consideration. They’re additionally great for wildlife, with nectar-rich blooms that entice pollinating bugs.

The place to plant lilacs

Develop lilacs in wealthy fertile, well-drained, impartial or alkaline soil in full solar. Nice within the border or in containers, they’re must-have crops whether or not you might have a balcony, patio or larger plot!

Dwarf lilac flowerfesta white shown in full bloom, covered in white flowers, growing in a white planter outdoors on a grey decked area, surrounded by other garden plants — Dwarf Lilac ‘Flowerfesta® White’

Dwarf lilac crops will fortunately develop in containers in loam-based compost like John Innes No.3 on a sunny patio or balcony.

Lilac flowers odor nice and have a particular candy fragrance, so place your plant the place you may admire its fabulous perfume as you cross by!

Questioning how briskly lilac shrubs develop?

These shrubs are available all sizes and styles, so examine the mature top and unfold when selecting your plant. Crops at all times look finest once they develop in proportion to the obtainable house – too small they usually lose impression however too massive and crops can overwhelm your exterior house.

When to plant lilacs

Plant lilac shrubs from November to February, when crops are of their dormant stage and haven’t began their spring development.

Methods to plant lilac bushes

Decide your sunny place within the backyard and dig a gap that may generously accommodate your plant. Rigorously take away the pot out of your plant and set the plant to 1 facet. Put the plant pot within the gap to attempt it for dimension. Plant your lilac within the gap on the similar depth because it was in its nursery pot. Fill within the gaps with soil and gently agency it down across the plant earlier than watering it properly. Including mulch across the stems will assist the soil beneath to remain moist.

For container rising, choose a pot that’s no less than 60 cm in diameter and plant utilizing John Innes No.3 compost.

Methods to look after lilac shrubs

Lilacs are straightforward to look after shrubs that solely want checking a few instances every year. Merely add mulch across the base of your lilac shrub yearly every spring and deadhead spent flowers in midsummer, earlier than pruning crops to your required top and form.

How and when to prune lilacs

Prune your lilac after it has completed flowering every year and you’ll stop your plant from getting leggy.

Finest lilac varieties to attempt

Lilacs are from a household of flowering woody crops referred to as Syringa, which is a part of the olive household (Oleaceae).

A close-up picture of three common lilac flowers, with a painted lady butterfly feasting on their nectar — Frequent Lilac

For big gardens:

Frequent lilac (Syringa vulgaris) thrives in UK gardens, bursting with purple blooms every spring, with a mature top and unfold of a formidable 7 metres.Lilac ‘Fantastic thing about Moscow’ (Syringa vulgaris) appears to have a fragile two-tone impact as its white blooms unfurl from delicate pink buds. This selection reaches a top and unfold of seven metres.

A pale-mauve lilac josikaea bloom shown in close-up against green foliage — Lilac josikaea

For large borders:

Lilac josikaea (Hungarian Lilac) boasts sweetly scented pink flowers on crops with a large, arching behavior which have a top and unfold of three.5 metres.Lilac ‘Primrose’ (Syringa vulgaris) is an uncommon selection with creamy-yellow aromatic flowers, which reaches a top and unfold of 4 metres.

A standard lilac palibin tree shown in full bloom, like a lollipop of colour, planted in a lawn with a silver birch tree beyond it — A normal Lilac ‘Palibin’

For smaller borders and planters:

Customary types of Lilac ‘Palibin’ (Syringa Meyeri) have a wonderfully proportioned top of as much as 150cm. With a neat and compact 60cm head of blooms and foliage on prime of a transparent single stem, these crops add instantaneous class.Dwarf Lilac ‘Flowerfesta®’ is out there with both pink or white blooms and allows you to get pleasure from flowers and perfume for months! These neat and compact crops are good for patio pots, with top and unfold of 100cm.

Now you know the way to develop lilacs!

We hope our recommendation has given you all of the information it’s good to develop your personal lilac shrubs! When you’ve been impressed to begin rising one in all these spectacular syringas, check out the nice varieties we’ve on provide.