Sure you can, but I’d wait until spring. Here is a site that tells you every thing you need to know about transplanting lilac bushes.

Good Luck

You could leave the lilac where it is and when it sends out the suckers later in the season you can move them. This way you’re not risking losing the mature plant until you’ve established new parts of it. If there’s no sentimental attachment, just get a new one from a local nursery when they’re available.

Hi:
How old is your Lilac bush? I usually recommend to my clients to be careful after the plant has been established in the ground for over three to five years. The main concern when transplanting is you don’t want to destroy the mother root. I will link you to the landscape article section of my website as there is a page on properly transplanting shrubs.

When planning your spring garden, make sure you take the time to properly plan – prep – and plant. I will also link you to my plan page as there may be some tips to help you with your spring garden.

I will also link you to the site map as this page has everything that is on the website. Browse through and see if you can get more information that may be useful to you in your upcoming project or any other landscape project.

Good luck to you and if you need some further suggestions on your transplanting or spring garden, feel free to contact me at the website. Have a great day!
Kimberly

best time to move it is now, while dormant. less shock that way.

I think Trouble with moving a lilac is that you have to cut them back in order for them to survive, and an established one is difficult to move at best. Once they are cut back, somtimes it takes 5-7 yrs before they grow new wood to bloom again.

I would just get a new one at a nursery, you can get one of the pretty new varieties or a Korean lilac, something different from the one you already have. Try a summer lilac (vitex) for a bit of a different look and a different bloom time, or a Carlessi viburnum for a wonderful scent with white flower clusters.

Lilac is usually quite resilient. We took one – about 6-7ft tall – which some builders had yanked out of a neighbour’s driveway and planted it in our garden and watered it a lot – and it has survived.
If you dig it up now (or before it comes into leaf) and try to save as much root as possible and also make sure it is really well watered for the next few months it should be ok.

You can move your established bushes in any month that has an R in it as long as the ground can be dug. Since lilacs establish their bloom buds the year before you will lose those blooms, and 3 years or longer you won’t see any blooms. Just depends on how hard the transplant was to your bushes. I would say that fall is a better time than spring to move these plants based on experience, because they begin to prepare for the long rest period of winter and begin to go dormant. Spring they begin to put their energy into growth and can be shocked terribly. Hope this helps