Lol, I do the same thing a lot.
Holes in the leaves or stems.
The dead branches are zapping the life out of the bush. Cut back all the dead branches. Make sure it’s getting enough water. Fertilize the plants.
Plant native plants.
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Thanks to those who’ve provided their thoughts. After consulting a nursery and the discussion here, providing me with many options and thoughts to think about, here’s what I plan to do.
The lilacs are staying, whether or not they survive is anybody’s guess. My number one reason for keeping them is despite their ugly and dying appearance, it has provided lots of shelter for the many variety of birds I have in my yard and I fear any work done to them may destroy what’s keeping the birds coming.
Planting on the other hand is different topic entirely. I will pursue the opportunity in planting native plants and once they’ve grown to a sustainable size, I will then get the lilacs pruned. To me, this seems like the best plan to gradually replace the lilacs without damaging why the birds like my yard so much.
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Good points, mira.
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Here are some “natives” Doug Tallamy suggested in a recent Nature’s Best Hope talk (https://grownativemass.org/Great-Resources/experts-videos/Natures-Best-Hope )
These are specifically to attract lepidoptera, which lay caterpillar eggs that attract birds: meadow rue (shrub size), Bidens aristosa (swamp marigold, tickseed, sunflower), Celtis occidentalis (tree), goldenrod, Virginia creeper, Joe Pye weed, asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed, which he wants to rename “monarch’s delight”). Keystone plants that encourage food webs (worth googling to learn more.) His absolute fave for birds is oak trees! Suggests we plant ground cover (native ginger?) under oak trees so grub-infested acorns can fall gently to ground for the winter and hide in the leaf duff.
Hope that helps, too!
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For help with your currently plant problem, every County has Master Gardeners who can provide advice. There’s also Cooperative Extensions at Universities that can help you. You should google those search terms for your area. They could help a lot in diagnosing and advising what to do with your bushes as well as provide ideas for future plantings.
I am in the process of landscaping my little bit of land in Silicon Valley and wish that I had known about some resources during the planning stages. Assume that if you hire a landscape architect/designer, they may not be familiar with your goals of making sure you’re planning for specific desires such as bird friendly but you can increase your success if you hire one that has experience with that so that they are familiar with the plants that achieve that. Even if you hire a landscape professional, you should still do your homework. I found nurseries online that specialize in native plants for my area and they provide helpful information, eg. I found a nursery website that lists plants by foliage/flower color, so helpful when I wanted flowers of mostly the same color.
Good luck!
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Definitely plant natives from your state and, better yet, endemic to your region! The payoff in attracting wildlife is amazing. Check out my cover article in Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine on our Central Texas yard: https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2020/may/ed_2_backyard/index.phtml.
My blog, “Window on a Texas Wildscape,” is a good source for info too: www.sherylsmithrodgers.blogspot.com.
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Just wanted to add, apart of the native perennials several people already suggested and with which I agree, to also look for plants that are edible (for you or for the birds…) and also to think about adding some leguminose herb or tree to get free fertilizer, not sure about the ones native there cause I live a bit far, but for sure there is a nice leguminose shrub with bird-friendly berries
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