Lilac Cut Flower Care

Shortly after bloom is also the best time to prune the lilac for shaping and rejuvenation as the lilac begins to.

Lilac cut flower care. Cutting at an angle will help ensure a larger area is exposed to water for maximum water uptake. With a sharp knife or clippers recut 1 2 inches off the bottom of the stem and place immediately in tepid water. With proper planting and care of lilac bushes anyone can enjoy the beauty of these low maintenance shrubs. If you don t have any make your own 1 tsp.

Use a sharp clean knife to make a cut at least a few inches longer than the final stem length desired and just. After three consecutive years of pruning your overgrown lilac in this way new shoots should comprise the bulk of the plant. Force a winter bouquet from cut branches of lilac. Cut long stems for the longest vase life.

The best time to cut lilac blossoms is early in the morning when they re fully hydrated. These shoots can be used for propagating lilac bushes. To improve the flowering of lilacs keep the grass from growing around them. Then simply plant the shoot in a suitable location watering regularly until it takes hold.

Cut back the wood over three years if lilac bushes are overgrown. Make sure you include roots. Bruise the cut ends and set them in water. Indoors get a vase ready for the flowers.

A 16 to 24 inch circle of landscape cloth placed around the bushes and covered with bark or stone will keep the grass down. Lemon juice to 1 qt. You will still have flowers every year. Smash the bottoms of the lilac stems so they can draw water up through the woody stem to the blossoms.

The plant will begin to bloom all over and you can do regular maintenance pruning from that point on. Residue from soaps and past arrangements may harm the cut flowers. If the bush is large or overgrown you can cut a third of the canes each year for three years to bring it back under control. Dig down from the main clump exposing the roots and cut the shoot away from the mother plant.

Pruning lilacs soon after flowering has finished removes unsightly spent blooms. Make sure it s clean by running it through a dishwasher cycle or washing it by hand with a solution of 10 percent bleach and 90 percent water. Cut the stems with sharp clean pruning shears then immediately plunge the cut stems into a bucket of water. Use a sharp knife or pruning shears and cut each lilac stem approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the main stem at a 45 degree angle.

For lilac trees three years old and more these should be cut away as close to the ground as possible a few centimetres below if at all possible. This will help the plant establish a good root system early on ready for better flower production in later years. If you planted a new lilac tree in the previous year then in its first year before it flowers remove all the forming flower buds. Although you ll be losing some flowers for the current year pruning overgrown lilacs is easiest early in the spring before the branches leaf out.

White flowered lilac click to enlarge. Sugar 1 tsp bleach 2 tsps.