Why doesn't my dwarf lilac flower?
By Jo023
United Kingdom 
I've had a dwarf lilac bush for many years which used to have loads of flowers every year. It is regularly pruned when the flowers have finished & I put down dried manure around it annually. The last couple of years I've only had about a dozen flowers & these are buried in the middle of the bush, hidden by greenery as the greenery grows very long, very quickly. Any ideas please, so I have beautiful, plentiful blooms again? thanks
26 May, 2009
Answers
or no feed at all, sometimes we have to let the plants stress a little in order to make them flower..
26 May, 2009
The dwarf lilac is a hybrid, on a root stock. The root stock has taken over. The only way to get it back is to cut off all the branches after leaf fall in the autumn.
27 May, 2009
I thought Jo was talking about Syringia microphylla a plant from China which is not necessarily grafted?
27 May, 2009
perhaps you are feeding it too well? It sound as if the plant is getting very lush on its diet and producing lots of sappy green growth at the expense of flowers. plants need nitrates, phosphates and potassium. think too much nitrates in the manure may cause excessive leaf growth. Maybe try a more balanced feed next year?
26 May, 2009