Why aren't my lilacs blooming????

[MomOnBike]

I don' t know why your lilac isn't blooming, but mine got caught in a late spring frost. I've had the thing 3 years, and it's yet to bloom for me. {sigh}

[mary9761]

the lilac is concentrating on rooting right now. often after a transplant or new plant, plants need to concentrate on putting down new roots instead of flowering. I planted a clematis one year and thought it died, the next spring it took off like crazy. good luck

[annie]

My Mothers Day gift 3 years ago was two lilac bushes. Little baby ones. This year, for the first time, they have some blooms. Heavenly scents! I love lilacs! I hope for more and more blooms each year.
Aquila - thanks for the hint on trimming! tho' mine are still to small to trim.

Annie

[annie]

Oops, double post. Sorry!

[mary9761]

just a hint to lilac lovers... Butterfly bush - or Buddleia is also known as summer lilac. There are many different colors available (my favorite is the deep purple Buddleia davidii. This makes a nice bush full of blossoms nearly all summer into the early fall and smells wonderful much like lilac. I do have to trim it back but it makes a beautiful bush all summer unlike just springtime.

[7rider]

We have about 6 butterfly bushes in our backyard. We chop them down to about 12" off the gound at the end of March and the amount of growth on them is amazing. They smell much sweeter than lilacs, but yeah, they bloom for ages and the butterflies love them. We've even seen hummingbird moths at them, which are really cool.

I've heard that lilacs can root from just a branch jammed into the ground. Is that true? I have one extra-tall spindly branch growing off one of my shrubs that I'd like to take down to add some symmetry to the 2. I'd hate to kill it, tho', and if it would root elsewhere, I'd stick it in the ground somewhere.