Vanessa,

I am a perpetual optimist. It is really hard to say if it is dead or alive. My guess is that it does still have life in it. If you start breaking the tips off of a branch, chances are that the tip might be brittle and snap off. If you continue, to snap it off on down the branch, chances are you will come to a part that is still pliable, or alive.

Sometimes I will scratch the bark somewhere down low on a branch, and than see that it is green underneath, meaning there is still life in it. This summer, I bought a shrub that 'looked' dead, but there was indeed life in the lower brances though there were no leaves. I got it for a quarter. It still is not looking any better (did not get planted right away), but it 'is' still alive.

If you 'find' there is still life in it, just continue to water, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised next spring.

I'm assuming it is getting watered by the sprinkler system. I would think it better to water it (more) deeply, less often, than shallowly each day. How much water is being put down once a day now?

Sue

Thank you Sue for the hope !
Yes the Lilac is getting water from the sprinkler system. I belived it was 20 min everyday. But yesterday I checked the timer and it was off. So I asked my husband and he told me that he is turning off the system every week for at least 3 days becouse he need to cut the grass. Also he turns off the system for several days if it rains. I got so upset with him. He is killing the plants and the grass becouse he does not water them and every weekend I see him putting fertilazer on the gras or on that plant that is not flowering. I told him that he need to stop to put fertilazer also becouse is fall and that he need to leave the system on everyday (we have a rain sensor so if it does rain it stops by itself). I told him if he drinks everyday also the plants needs to drink everyday !!! Hope this works. Now I put the system for two times a day to recuperate the mass.
Thank you

I have a bunch of Miss Kim; I didn't think it was possible for them to die. They grow like weeds.

It is not true that plants need to drink every day. That is the opposite of what any plant expert would recommend. Think about it, plants out in the fields don't get "watered" every day. It's far better to run irrigation once a week and give your plants a good soaking (about one inch a week) rather than for 20 minutes a day. We've had so much rain this year though that I only ended up irrigating for a few weeks in July.

You'd want to be careful not to overwater your plants.

I wish Miss Kims grow like weeds, I had 2 died on me. The constant runoff from the neighbor's watering drowned them. We put in a french drain, relocated them, etc and after all those valiant efforts, they still died anyway.

I planted 2 Miss Kims last year and they died before June. I have yuchy clay soil,but amended well in large planting holes. They were in a low place and sometimes water pooled for half a day after running the sprinkler system. Could it have been wet feet?