Don’t know how to thin out and preserve this shrub

[LythamRed]

Hi there, my first post, please forgive me if my forum etiquette is not 100% correct, here goes,
We moved in to this new house 6 months ago, the garden has been constantly worked on and changed however we now need some good advice.

We have several shrubs that have a lot of new growth coming out of the ground, whats the best way to deal with this to avoid, for want of a better word, Chaos. thanks. Will try and attach photos.

 

[alp]

No expert. But

you might need to find out what tree that is.

Is this the right time to prune it? Pruning at the wrong time could be detrimental

How much to take away so as NOT to murder the buds for next year's happiness

As a rule of thumb: take away any inward growing branches, remove diseased branches and make sure the air flow is free and generous.

I will leave the rest to the real expert.

Looks like a syringa? You see, I'm no expert.

 

[Mrsclem]

Looks like a lilac. Not sure on how to prune

 

[LythamRed]

No expert. But

you might need to find out what tree that is.

Is this the right time to prune it? Pruning at the wrong time could be detrimental

How much to take away so as NOT to murder the buds for next year's happiness

As a rule of thumb: take away any inward growing branches, remove diseased branches and make sure the air flow is free and generous.

I will leave the rest to the real expert.

Looks like a syringa? You see, I'm no expert.

Many thanks

No expert. But

you might need to find out what tree that is.

Is this the right time to prune it? Pruning at the wrong time could be detrimental

How much to take away so as NOT to murder the buds for next year's happiness

As a rule of thumb: take away any inward growing branches, remove diseased branches and make sure the air flow is free and generous.

I will leave the rest to the real expert.

Looks like a syringa? You see, I'm no expert.

many thanks for that, yes it is a lilac, we also have a white lilac 4 metres away, the smell of the flowers a few weeks ago reminded me of Jasmine.

 

[LythamRed]

We will remove all the new growth from the base and any new small growths on the limbs lower down

 

[alp]

So now you can google or youtube.. I did say I'm no expert.

 

[Tetters]

Hello @LythamRed and welcome to the forums You have a nicely overgrown Syringa there (lilac) and whenever any of mine get as big and untidy as that I usually get the saw to them and cut all the big stuff right down low. You`ll notice that they sucker rather well and will continue to hog as much space as they can get, which in my book is great because the perfume is fantastic, and we have plenty of room here.
When this grows again, which it will do very readily you would probably do best to keep it to the height of the fence each year after it has finished flowering.

 

[LythamRed]

@Tetters many thanks for that, it has just stopped flowering this last 10 days so will get to it with my saw tomorrow, down to fence height and pull out all the undergrowth.
Thanks again.

 

[Tetters]

I meant take the big trunks (fat bits) right out to ground level, as they`ll look ugly if you leave those at fence height. In future trim the lot to fence height. how about posting a picture when the job`s done? Hopefully we`ll have some rain and it will be a bit cooler in the next few days - it`ll make it easier to work. It`s been so stuffy down here in Kent.

 

[Mike Allen]

There are about 20 known species of Syringa (Lilac). Pruning times vary. From experience. Although lilac produces suckers quite freely, I have noticed that the volume of such suckers rapidly increase when the tree/shrub reaches it's growth height. A point about the suckers. Yes in time they will flower, but it mayt take a while. I removed a few from a tree IMO, an outgrown shrub, cultivated them and it took some twent years for them to flower, albeit by this time a large shrub had developed.

As Tetter said. Perhaps use the height of the fence as a height guide.

 

[LythamRed]

There are about 20 known species of Syringa (Lilac). Pruning times vary. From experience. Although lilac produces suckers quite freely, I have noticed that the volume of such suckers rapidly increase when the tree/shrub reaches it's growth height. A point about the suckers. Yes in time they will flower, but it mayt take a while. I removed a few from a tree IMO, an outgrown shrub, cultivated them and it took some twent years for them to flower, albeit by this time a large shrub had developed.

As Tetter said. Perhaps use the height of the fence as a height guide.

Thanks Mike

 

[LythamRed]

Thanks all, have thinned out the shrub quite a bit, looking bettter and will be easier to control.