Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) in the Lilacs Database

Never trim this plant in the fall/winter. If you do, you will not get blooms the following year. Always, if you need to trim, do so right after it blooms in late spring/early summer. This plant blooms ONLY on old-wood, never new growth.

If you're lacking in blooms, make sure that this plant gets a lot of moisture in the winter. Dry climates can prevent lilacs from blooming if they don't get a lot of moisture in the winter. The more snow/water they get in the winter, the more blooms you'll see. If we don't get snow, I always winter water my lilacs just like the trees. My neighbor has a lilac the same age/size and about 5 feet away from my lilac and you can tell that I winter water & they don't.. the blooms on their lilacs are very stingy whereas mine will be covered in blooms.

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The Common Lilac is native to southeast Europe and Asia Minor. It is a very common and well-known shrub in the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, and the northern part of the South USA. While there are a large number of cultivars based on a range of flower colors from white to pink to magenta to various shades of purple, including blue-purple, and including single to double flowers, it is still the regular, light purple, single flowered, straight species that is sold the most from conventional nurseries, and then single white as the second most bought. This is the species that has the best, strongest fragrance and that makes a good cut flower. This upright, tall shrub can be trained to be more tree-like or more bushy depending on pruning methods. An older plant can be rejuvenated by cutting it low to the ground in early spring, though it will take a few years to re-bloom. It normally gets a lot of mildew on the foliage in late summer and early fall, and no fall color.

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Honey bees get nectar and pollen from this plant.

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New Hampshire's state flower.

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While the shrubs themselves are not overly pretty, nothing beats the scent of the spring blooms.

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Syringa vulgaris is a larval host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies.

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