Propagation
Stratify fresh seeds during winter and then sow in pots during spring and place in a cold frame to germinate.
Soft tip cuttings of non-flowering shoots during late spring to early summer.
Division of suckers during spring or in autumn.

Botanic information
Leaf: The dark green leaves are lanceolate to broad lanceolate with an acuminate apex and petiole up to 20 mm (¾ in) long. The margins are entire or occasionally 3-lobed.

Flower: The tubulate flowers have a pedestal up to 6 mm (¼ in) long with a small calyx and the corolla has a tube up to 12 mm (½ in) long with spreading ovate to elliptical lobes with up-curved margins. There are numerous flowers arranged in a dense panicle that is up to 50 mm (2 in) long and appears from mid to late spring with the foliage.

Fruit: The leathery textured beaked pea-pod shaped dehiscent capsule is green ageing to brown and contains numerous seeds that 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.