Thanks for your reply! Upon further inspection, they do look like they have been grafted. From the very little I know of grafting does that now mean there is a possibility/probability that the 'standard' it was grafted to is the more common lilac bush? If so, this may be the first time one of my goof-ups end up being a good thing! I have been so desperate for lilacs for such a long time that when I saw these at a very good price I snatched them up. When I realized they were actual trees I was a little disappointed but quickly came to appreciate how beautiful they are in their own right. If they turn out to be the type I had actually wanted I will be thrilled! I will also be on the lookout for another 'Ivory Silk' since I fell in love with them despite my naïveté! Thank you!

Brandon7 and bboy just came back from the extension office while it does look like blight, its not. Turns out due the early warm up in late February the leaves on the tree came out early. We then had two late freezes in late March and about the second week in April. It didn't seem to affect any thing except the early blooming flowers and it seems the leaves on this tree. So I guess its freeze burn not sure if that's the right word. Hopefully in a few weeks there will be some leaves but it might not bloom. One thing I did find interesting is out of the three people in the office only one even knew about lilac trees. They're just not common in our area.

Dorry, not all lilacs are the same species or cross between species, and not all are have lavender colored flowers. I was aware that the Ivory Silk was a cultivar of one particular species of Syringa, 'though not the specific name without looking it up, but nothing I have access to says at what age the tree flowers. You didn't say how old your tree was, nor how floriferous it had been, so I had no way of knowing that it had flowered in the past. If you fertilized with a high nitrogen fertilizer at any time last year, and especially if the tree is growing in lawn that has been well fertilized, it is possible that you have had vegetative/leaf growth at the expense of flowers. Try fertilizing the lawn (if any) around it less, and/or using a fertilizer with a low first nummber around the tree (and if that's old knowledge, my apologies), and see what you get next year. It MAY be that it tends to flower in cycles, it may have had too much nitrogen, and it's also possible (although less likely) that it was affected by the Easter weekend freeze, and the flower buds got frosted. I'm sorry that you didn't get the display you were looking forward to.

cdecker, there's no issue here. It's September and for the past 4 or so months, insects, fungi that are pathogens on plants, bacteria and mites have all had their way with plants. Likewise, weeks of dry weather, pounding rains, and crazy winds have all been beating up on those leaves all summer. There is simply no problem here-it's fall.