I'm still helping my friend who bought a house with neglected gardens.
We've worked out the forsythia bush/maple tree problem (thanks, everyone) and now we've discovered a lilac bush that probably hasn't been touched or trimmed or even had a flower cut off of it in YEARS. I know you should deadhead lilacs when they finish blooming and this is certainly not the time to cut anything if we want flowers in the spring. My question is: is there any chance he will get flowers this year with the old, dead, seed heads still on the branches? What is the best approach? Since this is the first spring with his new garden, if there is any chance that even one flower will bloom, we don't want to ruin it. Should we just sit and wait and see what happens and then do the trimming in late spring as it should be done?