Here's my 20 something lilac, not the most impressive amount of flowering! But, at least, there are some blooms. When I prune, I usually take my electric hedge trimmers to it in late June. But this year, I think I'm going to try to trim with my pruning shears and loppers....trim off 8-12" back to the start of the newer growth. Same with the nearby yews, I like their free form look, but I don't want them covering up the windows. Also, here's a picture of my viburnum, it's bloomed better than ever...go figure. I'm in central IL, so we get lots of wind and below zero temps AND I'm not big on watering things.

Yeah that sounds like a good idea Sheila...I never thought of something like that? How do those work exactly? And Seil I didn't plant in cardboard as in 'packaging the Rose came in' I mean I had moving style boxes I broke down and then I wet them down really good to put under mulch along the slope to deter weeds. I made sure to leave about 5" or so around each plant bare with a little mulch. I did however leave the soil on it when I planted, I didn't try to make bareroot? You think that could've caused it? I just want to know how to save these ...also it rained last night...not sure how hard because it ended at least an hour or two before I woke up so when I stuck finger in soil down so deep that I had no finger left! It felt pretty moist all the way down...but idk how much rain feel so idk if that could happen from the rain we just had overnight? And today has been overcast with next to no sun all day..so sun wasn't out to dry it out.

where are you.. how bad was winter ... need pix ... did you prune it in fall .. do you fert it .... is in in or near the lawn that it got lawn fert??? ken

Even though a very cold hardy shrub, because these hybrid lilacs bloom earlier than the common lilac, it may be the flower buds are being damaged by late freezes. Other than improper pruning or excessive fertilization (no need for the uric acid and could be detrimental to flower development). there aren't many reasons for a lilac not to bloom. They are not biennial in that regard. Biennial fruit production is much different. Some varieties are biennial by nature or genetic make-up and others can be tiggered into biennial production by stress. Flower and bud damage by late frosts/freezes also contribute heavily to lack of fruit production in some years and this could very well be a similar issue wth your lilac.