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Will my lilac tree get more leaves this year?

9 years ago

Today, I pruned my lilac tree because it was getting quite tall and the branches were too close to my house. It bloomed nicely this year but most of the lilacs were near the top. The blooms are all finished so I thought it would be a good time to prune it. This lilac tree is about 30 years old. I removed about 1/3 of the length of the branches but in doing so, I noticed quite a few of the leaves are gone now, I guess most of the leaves grew around the tips of the branches. There are buds growing all along the branches. Will I get new leaves this summer on my tree? Thanks everyone.

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Comments (7)

poaky1
9 years ago
I would imagine yes. You may need to thin out that remaining bottom, or cut near the ground, though. If nobody here knows try the shrub forum. I am not an expert gardener, just posting what I think will help.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you Poaky, I'm glad to hear that because it looks a little bare. My lilac isn't a shrub though, it's a tree! It has a trunk, which is why I posted it here.
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if it suckers.. you can dig up the babes underneath ... do it gently.. to find where there are some roots and make the cut to include some roots on the new plant ... i did that this spring.. and left it potted all summer for ease of watering and care.. and then planted it in fall ... i dont know about rooting them... if no one chimes in .. try the propagation forum.. or google: propagating lilac .. ken
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That's a good question. When you have a standard like that, the leaning is more obvious to me than a shrub or a natural tree. I had a standard Hibiscus in a pot that leaned. My eye picks up on anything that is not straight and it bugs me. But I found there wasn't a heck of a lot I could do. I tried turning it as often as I thought of it but it still leaned. I thought to repot it and try to reposition it at that point, but I haven't done it yet. You don't have those options any way. I don't think there is a structural reason to correct the leaning. I mean I can't see how it will hurt it. Can you figure out the reason it is leaning? Is there a shady side and a sunny side? If so, then I suppose you could try moving it into full sun without anything obstructing it and you would have the opportunity to reposition it when you move it. I guess it depends on how much the leaning is bothering you and whether you want to go to that trouble in the Fall or the Spring. One thought....that suggestion about growing a clematis up into the lilac, I wonder if a couple of stems of clematis twining around the trunk up into the canopy would disguise the lean, so you wouldn't notice it as much?
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Syringa reticulata and Syringa pekinensis have both been available in the United States since the late 1800s. I have personally managed individuals from the turn of the century (early 1900s). These plants can be grown as multi-stemmed or single-stemmed small trees. That is a choice made by nurserymen growing the plant originally, and afterward by the party responsible for the landscape in which the tree is planted. There are a number of narrow selections of Syringa reticulata - 'Ivory Silk' is a popular and very common one. 'Ivory Tower' is another. These will have smoother gray bark. Syringa pekinensis is more variable in bark and form. A selection named 'China Snow' has fabulously exfoliating/peeling bark, competing with some of the ornamental cherries. It doesn't seem to have as heavy a flower display as many of the Japanese Tree Lilac clones. Bernheim has a collection of old specimens dating to the 1960s here in KY. These are durable plants, and ought to be used more widely.
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Are those leafless branches still green? If not just trim them off.You still have a good looking tree.Not unusual for a tree to lose a few twigs in a drought such as we had.Just see that it has plenty of moisture & it should do nicely. See that the mulch isn't snugged up against the trunk. It could cause the bark to start rotting. Rose
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
giving a lilac a haircut is not the way to go ...

search out: rejuvenation pruning of flowering shrubs... you are supposed to remove 1/3 of the branches... at ground level ...

whats going to happen.. is that it will now grow again... the same height it was before.. but on top of what you left.. eventually collapsing due to such.. in years i mean ...

ken

ps: your words are a pit confusing.. w/o a pic.. is this the standard shrub ... or a lilac on a standard .. on a trunk ???? ... obviously... you wouldnt do rejuvenation on a standard ...
casia_nh
9 years ago
Any chance you are talking about a Japanese Tree Lilac? (Syringa reticulata 'Ivory silk') I have one and it is a beautiful tree. They really do get surprisingly big. I would just wait a growing season and see if it fills out at all in the bare areas. It's a shame it was planted so close to the house. They need a lot of room.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
This is a lilac tree not a shrub. It has a trunk! Syringa Vulgaris. I pruned it one third way down from the top (after it finished blooming). Ken are you saying I should have pruned it lower? One - third up from ground level? If I did that, there wouldn't be any branches left on the tree, maybe I didn't understood you right. I've pruned it before and it has never collapsed. It has always grown new branches. I just wanted to know if the leaves will come back this summer?
duluthinbloomz4
9 years ago
Syringa vulgaris is a large deciduous shrub or multi-stemmed small tree. We generally refer to them as shrubs in these parts, but whatever one wants to call them is fine with me. Mention "syringa vulgaris" and it's pretty well known what you've got.

The rejuvenation practice is to take out 1/3 of the trunks, not 1/3 of just the branches or branch tips a third of the way down. Say you have a mature specimen with 9 trunks, take out 3 of the oldest so new ones can grow in to take their place.

I get this done by an arborist every 10-15 years. This winter resulted in some breakage on the older trunks; not as much as I feared would happen, mercifully. But, after they bloom, they'll get the rejuvenation and clean up they need.
poaky1
9 years ago
Sorry, I was imagining a shrub with a bunch of small leafless lower branches near the ground.

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