SHRUBS > LILAC > DEADHEADING
IN THIS templet
LILAC GUIDES
Container GrowingDeadheadingPlantingPropagationPruning
Lilac can be a wonderfully depressed - maintenance plant to grow in many garden .
Though not native , it can be a blessing for native wildlife , and when in bloom , many species and cultivar can satiate your space with a delicious scent and will look lovely too .
One question that you might have is whether you need to deadhead lilac , and if so , how you should do so .
I ’ve share all you need to lie with about deadheading lilac in the rest of this guide :
Do You Need To Deadhead Lilac?
Syringa vulgaris , common lilac , does not really call for to be deadheaded at all , and whether you do so or not will largely come down to a matter of personal preference .
It will depend on whether you are the type of gardener who likes to let nature take the rein or someone who wishes to keep everything neater and more under controller .
Some people believe that deadheading lilac will lead to better flower the undermentioned year , but this is just not the causa .
Whether you deadhead or not , flowering the following year will not be move , so deadheading is usually for your own welfare , rather than for the plant .
Some people simply prefer not to look at the brown flower heads once they have melt and remove them for artistic reasons .
“ Whether you deadhead or do n’t is partly down to the disposition of the nurseryman but also to the vogue of the planting , ” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly .
“ For case , a conventional planting will gain from deadheading whilst it might detract from a naturalistic planting . ”
“ I am in favour of deadheading spent lilac prime if they are not being cross for their seed , ” say David Gressley , the Vice President of the US division of the International Lilac Society .
“ The welfare of deadheading lilac is purely aesthetic unless a flora is under stress , which will prevent the expenditure of flora energy into seed production that will otherwise lead to embed defense reaction and its energy stockpile . ”
As David touches on , there are only a yoke of times when you might like to deadhead for more than aesthetic reasons .
Most lilacs blossom once , for a short period in previous spring or early summertime each year , but a few cultivars can flower a second fourth dimension in late summertime or early autumn .
Deadheading a repeat flower lilac can be good because it can check that that the plant put its energy into producing more blossom in the current time of year rather than go to sow .
With some lilac , you might also like to deadhead as part of more ecumenical pruning , to reduce the size of your bush or rejuvenate an senior plant without losing flowers next year .
When To Deadhead Lilac
If you do decide to deadhead lilac , await until the anthesis panicles have turn brown and then cut them off the flora .
This will typically be in July for most lilacs .
Deadheading Guidelines
If you are deadheading for esthetic reasons or to encourage repetition blooming on certain specific lilac cultivar , then you’re able to plainly crop off the blossoming panicle with a distich of white , sharp secateurs .
If you wish to undertake some pruning at the same time to reduce the size of the plant or rejuvenate an older shrub , you may , instead of just cutting off the stems below the flowers , abbreviate further down at the radix of the branches .
As you may tell from the above , this is a unproblematic caper that is not always necessary , though well accomplished when it is .
