Intention without ACTION means a problem not avoided.

[Dadnatron]

I live in Indiana. Trees and shrubs have leaved or are in the process of leaving out over the last 2 weeks.

I am looking to put my home on the market in the next month or so. I have 3 lilac and several 'fire bushes' which I fully intended to cut back relatively drastically in order to rein in their size. I had intended to do so before they leaved out, so they would grow in fully but smaller. I've done it a time or two over the years with good results.

Well, time got away from me and my intentions went unmet. Now I have some big 6' circumference lilacs and 5' tall fire bushes, and they are far too big for the spots they are in.

Is it to late to at least give them a pretty severe haircut, ie 10-15" off the stems and get enough regrowth in the next month for them not to look butchered? The only other option is to rip them completely out or cut them to the ground and mulch over them in order not to have leafless skeletons in my bed.

Fire Bush


Lilacs

 

[RNeumann]

Start with the big cut back. My SWAG is 70/30 they will look fine in a month or so. But if they don’t you are already started on the remove and mulch process.

Good luck with the sale! Hope the sale and new place bring some joy.

 

[MossRoad]

We usually trim back our lilacs as soon as the flowers are done so we get blooms next year. But we have cut them back sooner and later. Just won't get any flowers the next year if you do it later. Hey, if you're considering ripping them out, cut them back first and see how bad they look. But they aren't going to grow new leaves in a month. It'll take all summer. Can't hurt.

Firebushes we cut back in the fall. Never trimmed them in summer. Can't offer anything on that.

 

[Dadnatron]

I cut both back to about 2ft. I'll know in a couple weeks whether they are going to be cut back to the ground, ripped out, or left alone.