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Dying Shrub - Need Help!

18 years ago

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/7513/midrange6ym.jpg

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/4320/largedetail8uh.jpg

This was clearly planted in this flower bed for ornamental purposes so I'd like to save it if possible. It is about 5 feet tall. It has about 70% dead wood and is only leafing in a few places. If I remember correctly from last year, the blooms are vertical stalks with little flowers. Help?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:258350}}

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Comments (5)

jenny_in_se_pa
18 years ago
Judging from your link, it looks like a lilac and specifically like a preston one (eg., "James McFarlane"). I'm wondering if the leaf buds may have been blasted by a late frost or freeze?

You may want to watch it during the next month to see how far down on the branches it resprouts and consider cutting it back down to those leaf sprout points if the wood above is brown. Also consider completely cutting out 1/3rd of the thickest oldest stems to the base and it should sucker a bit from the roots or base of the trunks during the summer.
mwieder
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for the ID - looking at pictures of Syringa Prestoniae that looks correct. Any suggestions/thoughts about what is wrong with it? Supposedly Preston Lilacs don't suffer from bacterial blight...
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jenny_in_se_pa
18 years ago
Well - I have had mine in a container for 10 years now and in the past, I have had some stem die-back - but usually stems on the oldest canes. Based on the size of yours, I would give it a good pruning - about 1/3rd of the stems down to the ground - and let it start sprouting down towards the base to fill it out better because these tend towards lanky tip blooming and leafing with alot of exposed stems (pretty much typical of lilacs after awhile). You could give it some fertilizer this summer while it is setting the buds for next season.

Yours may have been stressed last summer (I know mine was after it had an amazing bloom and then suffered some heat stroke despite regular watering). I did some pretty heavy pruning on mine this past spring. This was it last year:

{{gwi:289}}
mwieder
Original Author
18 years ago
There are several thick branches coming out of the ground that ascend 5 feet, with no growth whatsoever on them. Should I prune those all the way to the ground or should I love 1-2 feet at the bottom, in hopes that it will regrow from there?
jenny_in_se_pa
18 years ago
You can prune down closer to the ground - as far as you can (you may end up with some 6" stumps). It should send up a brand new sucker or two from right near that spot during the summer.

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