If you're working from a mature bush, you might also be able to snip off an under-ground runner and lateral shoot. These usually already have roots.

I bought 50-odd lilacs through the Soil Conservancy, and while they don't usually flower with our late frosts over here, they sure make a heckuva hedge.

We have a really large lilac bush in our yard - it's probably 15 - 20 ft tall by about that wide. Lots of new shoots coming up from the base of it. Ours does flower, and quite a bit. It's really lovely in the spring!

I'll have a look to see if I can find some lateral shoots as you mention. I want to plant some of it on the other side of our yard to create a screen on that side like it is where the mother plant is. I see lilac growing all over the place in the denver area, so my guess is that it must be easy to grow here :^)

I have a huge lilac bush just outside the kitchen door on the west side of the house that must be 15 feet high, it does a wonderful job of shading that part of the house on hot afternoons. It also gets fed by *somebody* heaving coffee grounds and banana peels etc under it all the time.

Lilac are interesting in that they get their growth spurt very early in the season, then stop. So if you wish them to grow quickly, make sure that they're fed and watered in late April - May, and they'll grow rather well, then slow way down when June rolls around. This varies a bit from year to year with temperatures, eg this year the growth was in June, but as a general guideline. There were several of us around the neighborhood who got lilacs from the Soil Conservancy - I did the early spring care thing, others didn't, and mine grew 3X as fast.