Beginner Gardening: Lilac disease - what kind and what to do, 1 by teainthegarden

teainthegarden wrote:
With this home I have been blessed with blooming bounty, but these blessings are a lot of work and I'm no green thumb. While my attention has been on the wonderful beds on other parts of the property, the lilac bed has been neglected. As you can see in the last photo it's a tangle of shoots and I don't know what. I had been trying to rejuvenate by cutting back a 1/3 every year but that made the shoots go crazy.

This is the third year but I haven't cut anything. So, whatever is the problem, one solution is to cut back, dig out, etc. but what and how I don't know, it's a rather intimidating project to me at the moment.

Anyone know if this is bacterial blight or what?

Thanks y'all!