Lilacs

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mr_garden Aptos, CA Sep 27, 2010

First of all, it is very interesting to learn about various aspects of the garden from Dave's sites.
We planted 2 Miss Kim lilac bushes, about 1&1/2 ft. tall plants. in March this year as border plants in the front of our home ( in Aptos, CA) which is Northeast
facing. The blooms were fragrant and good till all the bud clusters finished blooming from the original plants.
The leaves then changed colour to reddish and dried out, but now the plants seem to have no life. I cut a few of the lower branches
to check and the inside looks greenish. Are the plants likely to survive and what should I do at this time to assure that they are healthy & have good blooms come spring?
BTW- two Meyer Lilac Palibins we planted on the side and back of our home are thriving nicely.
Thank you.
Madhu

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Sep 27, 2010

It's hard to say for sure whether they'll come back or not but if there's green in the branches still then that means there is some hope. Since this was their first year in the ground I wonder if maybe they weren't watered enough and that's what caused them to decline? They do lose their leaves in the winter but this is very early for them to be doing that. It's also possible that they were stressed by heat--I know we've had a couple really hot spells this summer right in the middle of weather that's been mostly cooler than usual so if your weather has been similar, then those sudden hot spells might be the problem too. I've had a lot of plants suffer some damage from that when in a normal summer where temperatures warm up gradually they would have survived 100+ temperatures with no problem. Newly planted things are also going to be more susceptible to stress from a really hot spell. If the heat was the issue, all you can really do is make sure you water them enough and wait and see what happens next year--hopefully they'll come back for you.

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