Overgrown lilacs

[Bruce]

I bought a property that has 7 large lilac bushes (several different varieties). My problem is that the previous owner never pruned them. Now these plants consist of long woody stems that go up 6 to 8 feet with flowering blooms all across the top and no blooms below 6 feet.

Question: if I prune these bushes back to six feet, can I expect any blooms at all next year ( I don't even know where the blooms would come from because there is nothing but long woody branch-like stalks from ground to 6 feet)?

Should I start over and cut them down to ground and try to get new growth that way?

Thank you for replies. Bruce

[Cheryl Isaak]

Regional wisdom is to cut out about a third of the oldest (and there for biggest) trunks at ground level. Don't take any more than a third, wait a year and do it again in the fall.

Cheryl In NH where the lilac is the state flower.

[Derryl Killan]

Prune them 1/3 at a time and let the suckers come up.

Derryl