Remove the stake and let it support itself. If it cannot stand up, leave it until this time next year. Otherwise, leaving a tree staked will cause it to rely on it's support and never support itself.

Is this one of the "patio tree" type standards? Some have heavy tops and may need staking - can you post a pic? I'm sure someone will chime in that can help :)

Here is a pic. The leaves blend in a bit with the tree across the street, but you get an idea of how large it is.

It seems to be somewhat sheltered from wind. It was quite windy on Saturday afternoon, and while my large maple tree out front was getting blown quite a bit, this tree, also in front but at the edge of the house, didn't seem to be getting hit very hard. So I think the way my house is angled helps block some of it.

first.. that is a shipping stake ... get rid of it.. and get a more stout one ... it needs to be staked.. until it can hold up its big whompin head ... especially after next springs flush ...

second.. its a bit close to the house .. see link for potential ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=Dwarf+korean+lilac+tree&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLnpn9uJvPAhXG6iYKHVLyC84Q_AUICSgC&biw=958&bih=745&dpr=0.9

third ... how much water will it get from the buried downspout ... will it be diverted mostly away from the roots??? .. whats your soil type .. that sand i see from the excavation???

4th is snow blowing an issue.. you cant hit it with snow in winter ...

i suggest you be a bit more patient on a sunday night.. and not insult potential peeps who might reply .. though honestly.. i dont think poaky was at his best.. lol ... been there.. lol... he seems to have a real personal hate for this plant ... lol ... i have also been there ....

ken

ps: some of the perennials also seem too close to the garage ... for their potential ... they would be easy to move now.. but can be moved later also ...

Thanks Ken. The spot it's in gives it a potential of a 5 foot spread before it hits the house. I planned on trimming it back good each spring after it blooms, so I figured i'd be good there.

The downspout is draining into PVC which will divert the water away from the beds (note the stone, it's going out that way). No sandy soil here, it's clay-ish but in this area it's fairly decent. The soil you're seeing is new top soil after a stump grinding done in that area. I also just raised the beds with additional soil all around this part of the house because they were so low before.

As far as the other plants, the angle of the photo might be deceiving. i did take their width into account when determining how far from the house to plant them.

I'm not being pushy, i'm being patient. I just didn't appreciate being spammed with nonsense (edit: which was now deleted by poaky1)

I removed the shipping bamboo stake. It broke off just below the soil, and using pliers just resulted breaking off tiny pieces, so I assume it will just decompose on its own.

Could I get some advice on staking the tree for the first season support -- what to use? I've never staked a tree. I assume I attach the stake just above where it was grafted so that there is support there.

You could have just pulled it out. Ken wasn't "spamming you with nonsense". What exactly do you mean by trimming it back? Rounding over, pollarding, other? Stakes really don't need to be kept very long. I am training a forsythia into a tree form, I just got back in from removing the stake which was put in sometime around may/june. Now the forsythia is growing almost perfectly straight.

I tried pulling it out, that's when it broke off. I wasn't referring to Ken in that comment, I was referring to poaky1, who it seems came back and deleted the 5 or so separate comments that they posted in a row that consisted of gibberish and very weird things.

I've read that after these bloom, you should shear them back a bit prior to new season growth. That's what I meant. And from some of the comments here and googling, I'm to understand that I should have a stake for at least the first growing season to support the crown as it's a grafted tree.

Unless it is falling over, no reason to have kept it staked. I have several grafted JMs that were never staked. They are doing great now, about 2x their size in 4 years. I am guessing you mean crown reduction by shearing, which should be fine. Just don't remove more than about 1/4 of the crown at once.

I'm another who is less than enthused by the dwarf Korean lilac, usually called Miss Kim. Bloom and scent aren't much. Mine got to about 4 ft.X4 ft. before I gave it away. Lack of good Fall color and jumbled branching pattern were the deciding factors. I get picky sometimes. :-)

mike

Now I know what this plant is. I have seen all of the people who hate the 'miss kim' lilacs. I think it is a matter of right plant, right place.

Scent I could care less about (unless it smelled like rotting fish). For me it's mainly the shape of tree I was looking for in that spot. Spring blooms are just a nice perk. It seems anything I have that blooms in the spring is over and done with so quickly that it's really not worth it. I was looking for something like a small crabapple that my dad has, but the nursery didn't have anything except larger crabapples, but they had a handful of these. So I went with it.

I have not seen Miss Kim as a standard, but I have the shrub form and I love it. Different scent than regular lilacs, but really nice. Blooms a little later, warm enough the windows are open and I can smell it in the house too - it's right outside our bedroom. I need to prune it back some next year, it's getting a little blob like.

The problem is, lilac is a suckering shrub. It will be a huge task to keep it as a standard.

The other nice thing about Miss Kim - does not sucker. I don't know what they use as the standard to graft too though, that may sucker.

Brian FWIW I have a hydrangea standard that I still have staked - the weight of the flowers requires the stake.

I've had a dwarf lilac tree for about 5 years and am probably going to remove it. Even with stakes it has blown all over the place from the wind. I wish the landscape contractor I used has selected something different. Looking to replace it with something else.