I just found your post while wondering the same sort of thing. I have lilacs planted in a protected wetland by my property's previous owner, and I'm trying to figure out how best to utilize them. Other than edible flowers, what uses do lilacs have?
Looking in the
Plants for the Future database, I see that their leaves and stems are good for dyes, and that they form a hedge.
They probably also help attract beneficial insects, as well as giving
bees another source of food early in the spring.
Thinking about that, they might be good for creating a hedge to keep out
deer from a garden or orchard. They'll make things pretty and attract beneficial insects. They also might act as a "sacrificial"plant for snails, as snails like them but don't seem to really harm them much.
Since your lilacs are very hearty, they
should be pretty resilient if you want to transplant them elsewhere to form a hedge. Since they sucker and have surface
roots, they might compete with your wild cherries--I don't have
enough experience to know.
I do know that they wouldn't work as a natural support/trellis for vines (beans, blackberries, grapes, kiwis) as they easily get pulled down (mine have been pulled down by our trailing blackberries...which I've never seen pull down anything else).
I hope my limited research and experience helps, and hopefully by bumping this, we'll get someone with more experience/knowledge to see it!
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