I have a lilac bush that has NEVER bloomed...help!
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I have a lilac bush that has NEVER bloomed... nor has it ever come close! I trim it back,it grows healthy leaves in springtime but no flowers!
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It could be too much nitrogen, add phosphorus - bone meal.
They need food. Try this link: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/lilac/lilac-plant-fertilizer.htm
Don't trim it for a full year. You're probably trimming off where the new flower buds start.
Hello Sally there are a variety of reasons why a lilac bush will live but not bloom. I think you have answered your own question! Lilacs do not need pruned! In fact by giving your lilac bush that trimming you are destroying the blooms for up to 3 years. If you regularly prune then you know the poor blooms have no chance! Leave it & see how things progress. I bet you will have blooms after a short year or two! Good luck! Honor
Learned from an aunt that lived in California years ago that lilacs need to freeze in order to bloom. Her neighbor went to the trouble of having a truck load of ice delivered & burried his lilac with it, a few moths later, it bloomed!
And I agree, don't trim it....
If it is setting buds and freezes, it will not bloom. I'd say pruning is the problem.