We could use some history on this, Snowie, and maybe some pictures. How recently were they planted, and when did you notice that they were in distress? How much water have they been getting? Has anything unusual happened recently--i.e. heavy pruning, heavy feeding, etc.?

Are they in pots or in the ground, and how long have you had them?

scratch a bit of bark back if green underneath they are still alive. if brown then they are dead. if behind the bark there is a white layer that smells of mushrooms then they have honey fungus. I lost one to HF 6 yrs ago and they did what you describe. but other causes such as dryness at the roots can also cause the symptoms you describe.

thanks tugbrethil, bamboo and seaburngirl for your answers on my miniture lilacs, the only info I can give is as follows, the really small lilac was about 3-4ft tall, 6yrs old, was not pruned at all last yr, this year it looked ok, full of leaf and flowered but suddenly about 75% of the leaves withered away,sadly it has found new surroundings in our bin, it was always in the ground but not often watered. The second larger lilac (about 6ft tall) we have had about 3yrs, and has always been in same position in garden, had lovely display of flowers last year, no pruning last year. this year it leafed fairly well, produced about 4 puney flowers then gradually all the leaves withered away. I have scraped the bark and it looks alive. Unfortunately I have no names for these plants. Snowie.

We had a sudden, very hot spell of weather following on from little rain shortly after your lilac finished flowering - it may be that it was too much for the plants because they really did need some watering, which they didn't get. If the one still left isn't completely dead inside, it might be worth leaving it in place to see if it recovers and grows again next year.