How to prune this lilac ?

thedjjj

Hi, this lilac hasn’t been pruned in a long time (I’ve never done it) .. it’s looking very bare at the lower levels and within the middle parts.. it’s now done flowering so any advice on how to prune ? Do I leave any leaves on at all? How far back ?

Thanks 

Pete.8

I can only advise not to do what I did to mine.
I gave it a hard prune just after flowering - it died....

You live and learn - sadly at the expense of my lilac

harmony

Your Lilac looks similar to mine (more tree than bush lol). I wanted mine to sprout from the bottom to make it more "bush like" but chickened out of pruning and decided to leave it. I quite like it now and it flowered beautifully this year. Is it better to deadhead or not.?...

Posy

I had one like that and wanted to improve or remove it. I cut it quite hard back after flowering and fed and watered it. It looks fantastic now. With yours, you may need to reduce the branches of the tree behind if they are shading it very much.

Blue Onion

Cut out one third of the mature stems right down to the ground.  It will send up lots of new growth from the roots/base.  Here is some basic pruning directions.