Does anyone know anything about lilac trees?

Many lilacs are grafted, where the lower part of the tree is a wilder species plant, and the variety that you want has been grafted onto this. For this reason, as well as the fact that Lilacs are often best pruned so that they don't lose too much growth at any one time, I'd probably leave your tree now as it is, as the dead flowers will fairly quickly fall/blow away, and it would prevent any accidental damage to your tree, such as cutting down into below the grafting point. I've added this general information on their pruning needs as your tree will likely give you many years of enjoyment, and it's worth knowing now, so that you can be as well prepared for the future as possible.

Whilst dead heading can be a good principle for many plants, especially where repeat flowering occurs the same year, I think that your fairly young plant will likely not got any great benefit from it, and it will in any case divert most of its energy this summer to gaining more green growth and next year's flower bud production, rather than to making seeds.

Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob

In addition to dead heading the finished flowers, you can prune it down about 2 inches. Also, feeding your lilac with a 10-10-10 fertilizer 3 times a year, early spring, mid summer and late fall, will encourage more flower blooms. It works for my bushes.

grow to be it pruned in late summer, or later? that could decrease off this twelve months's flora . As others have indicated , ought to in ordinary terms be a fluke of situation. have been they surprisingly floriferous final twelve months? flora take numerous capability . perhaps not adequate for this twelve months . Are they very previous? enable some suckers arise from the backside. decrease down ~ a million/3 of the oldest trunks this twelve months, next & one after that . Then it quite is going to likely be rejuvenated in 3 years . just to confirm , take a shovel or spade & stick it interior the floor , right here & there, around the lilac. Have had this artwork on reluctant eastern Tree Lilacs , & Wisteria. It provokes (next twelve months) a "Oh -no !- i'm -gonna -die .-greater beneficial - reproduce!" reaction .

i have 5 lilac trees and when i have pruned them they have not flowered for the next couple of years. if you must prune it do it now. if you do it later you will cut out the new buds that are already forming for next year. i would leave well alone, although they are tough, they are fussy when it comes to pruning.

you can remove the old faded flowers. ..... if there is any shaping or pruning to be done, do it now, too.... you don't prune a lilac except immediately after flowering.... if you did, you'd be cutting off next year's flowers.!!....

long time to wait for flowers, but worth it, right?... lilac's scent means spring to me....and home.... special plant.....

My mother had a lilac bush in her yard and she never trimed any old buds off .it always produced lots of flowers. Hers was planted in partial sun

As far as lilacs go, your plant is just a toddler. You should be happy it has started its blooming cycle.

My suggestion is to let it just be and grow a couple more years before putting the shears to it.

See source for more information.

You can just cut the tops off now the flowers have died off

Or

You can simply leave them - Lilacs are tough and they don't mind a hard cutting back in winter or having the dead heads removed in summer.

ADDED: In view of some comments below - I cut mine back every year in autumn - it flowers heavily, every spring.......don't know why theirs don't