Propagation
Stratify fresh seeds during winter and then sow in pots during spring and place in a cold frame to germinate.

Take soft tip cuttings of non-flowering shoots during late spring to early summer.
Divide the suckers during spring or in autumn.

Note:
Lilac may also be propagated from layering, root cuttings and grafted or budded onto other Lilacs or Privet rootstock.
The shrub may also be cut back hard and transplanted, requiring 2 to 3 years to recover.

Botanic information
Leaf: The dull green leaves are broad-elliptical to oblong and the underside is glaucous. Its apex is acuminate and the petiole is up to 30mm (1¼in) long.

Flower: The small lilac-rose coloured tubulate flowers have a corolla tube that is up to 14mm (½in) long. They are arranged densely in a stiff and erect terminal conical panicle that is up to 200mm (8in) tall and appear during summer.

Fruit: The leathery textured beaked pea pod-shaped dehiscent capsule is green ageing to brown and contains numerous seeds. The small seeds are viable but the plant is commonly reproduced vegetatively to maintain true to type.

Pruning
Care should be taken when pruning lilacs as the flowers are produced on the previous season’s growth. Unpruned shrubs will produce many more flowers regularly and a hard prune of old plants will inhibit the flowering for up to two years until the new wood has matured. They will tolerates a light prune to bushy up immediately after flowering before the new buds are formed.