Dwarf Korean Lilac

Probably from China, but according to Dr. Dirr, this type is only known in cultivation. Available as a shrub or high graft tree-form. If pruning is necessary, it is best done directly after the blooms are spent. The most memorable pruning story in my mind is from one of the wholesale growers in South Jersey. I had been there picking up an order, and they have a tree-form example by their office door. Well, the one day I came in, it had been reduced to a leafless dome of finger-thick branches! I said to the owners wife "Wow, somebody really hit that thing pretty hard!", and she said, with a trace of annoyance "Everybody's been telling me that. It'll be fine". And sure enough, in about six weeks it was all fresh looking and totally recovered. Pruning must be done in the first half of the year, before July, otherwise it may not have time to set flower buds for the following Spring.