CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! Welcome to My weekly series! ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc. for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. Linda, The lilac bush in our yard had lovely blooms this season but there are areas of leaf loss. We have never seen this before. Please advise. Thanks, Tina Hi Tina, Your photo shows a very thick Lilac that needs to be pruned very badly. Sun needs to penetrate into the center of the shrub and because it is so thick the interior is shaded. No sunlight means no leaves or growth, so the stems die off. All is not lost, but the lilac needs to be pruned in a certain way to thrive. If you'd like us to come out and prune it, give us a call. Lilacs are actually members of the olive family and today there are over 1000 varieties of them around the world. Lilacs were originally found in Asia and made their way to Europe before being brought to this country by European settlers in the 1700s. Properly cared for lilacs can live a very long time; some have been known to live over 200 years! Thank you for your question. Sprigs &Twigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, PO Box 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEAR! CELEBRATING 26 YEARS ! Welcome to My weekly series ! ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs , Inc. for the last 26 years . She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany , an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional , a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects . Linda , The lilac bush in our yard had lovely blooms this season but there are areas of leaf loss . We have never seen this before . Please advise . Thanks , Tina Hi Tina , Your photo shows a very thick Lilac that needs to be pruned very badly . Sun needs to penetrate into the center of the shrub and because it is so thick the interior is shaded . No sunlight means no leaves or growth , so the stems die off . All is not lost , but the lilac needs to be pruned in a certain way to thrive . If you'd like us to come out and prune it , give us a call . Lilacs are actually members of the olive family and today there are over 1000 varieties of them around the world . Lilacs were originally found in Asia and made their way to Europe before being brought to this country by European settlers in the 1700s . Properly cared for lilacs can live a very long time ; some have been known to live over 200 years ! Thank you for your question . Sprigs & Twigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO : info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie , Sprigs & Twigs Inc , PO Box 245 , Gales Ferry , CT 06335 SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEAR !