Controlling a Lilac.

madpenguin

My Lilac as always sends out suckers and I try to remove as many as possible.
Because of its position this is very awkward to well nigh impossible!
(I almost got stuck once trying to crawl along the back by the fence    )
If I just left them to grow and then took out some when they grew large enough with long handled loppers would a sort of thicket form.
I do love the Lilac and is getting ready to flower soon!
So could it just be left to its own devices with a tidy up maybe a couple of times a year?

BenCotto

Yes, I think a thicket would form.

We had a quite substantial lilac which, maybe foolishly, I pruned quite hard. Within weeks it seemingly retaliated and suckers appeared with a vengeance I had never before witnessed. It was a jungle out there!

With much effort I removed the whole thing ensuring I took out all roots thicker than a pencil because just small bits left behind we’re starting to grow again.

Posy

When we moved to our present house we had a thicket of weary, leggy lilac that wasn't flowering well. I weeded round it, took out all the dead and overcrowded branches and fed and mulched it. Each year, after flowering, I took out about a third of each bush until it was all tidy. It still covers a relatively big area but it flowers like mad.

madpenguin

I think I shall have to go the 'thicket' approach with pruning out a third each year.
Thanks Posy & BenCotto!