My family moved in to a new house last spring and are now just starting to get to the gardening. We will be completely re-landscaping the front and back yards and need to transplant a few bushes, including a lilac. I am quite new to gardening on this scale (container gardener mostly in the past) so this is all new to me. The lilac in question didn't bloom last spring and hasn't yet this spring. I suspect it doesn't get enough sunlight (plus it is fairly close to a spruce tree = acidic soil?) so would like to move it to a brighter space. Is this a good time to transplant it? Any advice on how to do it so it survives the move? Also, if I wanted to prune it back a bit (it seems to have been neglected for a while and I'd like to balance it out a bit), should I wait until next year to do that so I don't do too much to it at once? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks. LMG
While it might live if dug now the new growth may shrivel. Best to wait until it is not in leaf. Save the pruning until after it has been in the new location for a few years, except for removal of dead or very weak growth.
