Lilac - help!

[TheLittleFriend]

Hi
I planted a lilac syringa palibin shrub in late May, which seemed healthy and flowered. However, it now looks terrible. The leaves are turning a reddish brown. Can anyone advise me on what might be wrong and how I can correct it please?

This was it in late July — much greener!

Hopefully it’s just slipping into autumn a bit early. Would recommend doing precisely nothing at this point, but wait and see what happens next spring.

Make sure it’s kept watered. We have had some rain, but the ground is still very dry. Newly planted shrubs and trees need a lot of water.

Thanks for your advice.
Trethew - would you recommend pruning in Spring after risk of frost?
JT05 - I’ve been given the whole bed (several new shrubs) a drenching each week, do you think I should do more? The rest all seem to be doing really well.

Palibin is a small shrubby lilac as opposed to the more usual tree forms. It does not require pruning beyond removing dead or damaged material. I would do nothing until spring, and after new leaves open, remove any dead twigs. Don’t be tempted to cut it hard back to stimulate new growth - this may well have the opposite effect. I’m not convinced yours is ok, the leaves do not look like normal autumn color but my advice remains wait and see

Thanks Trethew. I’m not convinced it’s ok either.

Hmm, if waters not the problem, it might just be in replanting shock. It look like you have buds forming, which is good. These will form the spring flowers, so don’t prune.
If the buds don’t develop then it may have a more serious problem.

Thanks JT05. Fingers crossed for Spring then.

I know I’m resurrecting my old thread, but look how gorgeous my lilac looks now!! Leaving it well alone did the trick!

Beautiful!

Hurrah! That's quite a show!