"I planted 3 Miss Kim Lilacs in my yard late in May." May is pretty late for planted trees and shrubs. With pot-grown material, it is do-able, but isn't ideal. It certainly requires diligence with monitoring soil moisture and watering when necessary. I planted according to the directions on the tag, and prepared the holes well, backfilling with a mix of bagged topsoil, compost, and native soil. The instructions you depended on were incorrect. It is almost never a good idea to amend backfill soil. Whoever wrote those instructions apparently didn't know much about planting woody plants. "I watered them after planting, but then we left town for 8 days." Without knowing what type of soil and drainage you have and how much it rained, we can't know much about whether this was a problem, but it definitely is a red flag. "One thing I did not do was separate the roots when planting...maybe this killed them?" I'm not sure exactly what you did from your description, but you probably helped your lilac more than hurting it by addressing any pot-bound roots. I don't think your problem lies here. As Ken said, find/keep that receipt if you have a warranty! Check out the link below for future plantings. Here is a link that might be useful: Planting a Tree or Shrub

I believe I am in zone 8b, possibly 9a. I have been told not to use fertilizer for the most part,as it can reduce or eliminate blooms entirely for the sake of leaves, and if I do to make sure it is low on nitrogen... something like an 8-20-16. The closest I could get was the rose fertilizer I had on hand, which is a 18-24-16, but I was willing to sacrifice blooms to gain some bulk on the bush and get it established. As for water, I tried to water it deeply a few times a week, making sure the soil wasn't water logged (until I realized my drainage had stopped up) but not dry either. We don't get a lot of rain here, so I tried to ignore everything I found saying not to water often. The lilac is planted in full sun, but because of how drastic it is here, it gets full a.m. sun, but some shade in the afternoon. I unfortunately had to plant the lilac in a container since we are renting the house, and I really would like to take it with us when we move. Do you have any suggestions as to what potting mix I should be using? I used Black Gold general purpose potting soil when I planted it. I recently received a very small Miss Kim lilac, and want to make sure I don't make the same mistake with this one. Thanks!

The curling is a natural response of rhododendrons to the cold. It varies within a plant and from plant to plant. It typically starts below freezing and stops above freezing. Around freezing it depends on the hardening (salts and sugars in the plant cells) and the state of dehydration. I have some plants with leaves that I don't expect to uncurl. I think those particular branches have suffered terminal damage and I will prune them off when I am sure they are dying. We had a very mild winter followed by a month of bitter cold. I think this unusual circumstance tricked some plant parts into breaking dormancy before the bitter cold and hence the frost damage. If the sap starts rising in a plant too early, freezing causes bark split and usually death to the branch involved. I haven't looked yet to see if I have bark split. Here is a link that might be useful: Henning's Rhododendron & Azalea Pages

Lilacs are subject to several different leaf diseases. Most of which are not serious under normal conditions. Some leaf diseases are not easily distinguishable to leaf damage caused by physiological factors. We need to know when were they planted, is this the first year you have seen this, what fertilizers, weed killers might have been used around the plant, when did you first see this. Leaf diseases that occur at the end of the season frequently are not a problem. For now I would clean up fallen leaves and take some samples from the bush and send them to your local extension service. With the weather we had this year many plants are showing problems that are not usually seen. Most of these will not be problems with normal weather.