Looks near death. Very hard to say why, sorry. Might sprout near the ground.

Yes. Every year there’s lots of sprouting from the ground, which I prune. This year was the same

usually.. on grafted plants.. heavy growth form the bottom means most above is dead ..

in fact.. everything that doesnt have a green bud on it.. is probably dead.. i THINK i see a few..

here are you.. big city name..

if this happens every spring.. i suspect you have sever winter issues.. and part of that would be winter sun on all that stone/brick. causing the tree that is planted to close to the house .. to go in and out of dormancy.. to its detriment.. resulting in what you are dealing with ..

either:

cut out all the dead. and from below.. and enjoy that POS out your front door..

OR...

just get rid of it.. it was an experiment that didnt work out ...

personally .. if i had to look at that every time i walked out my front door.. it would have been gone a few years back ...

ken

ps: are lilac a thing wherever you are.. or are you pushing the envelop there???

It has thrived very well for the past 5-6 years, with lots of flowers early in the season and full dark green foliage throughout the spring and summer seasons. It’s current state is new, this year, which is the reason for this post.

And to be specific, it is a dwarf Korean lilac. Hardiness to zone 3a….I am in 5b