Lack Of New Buds On Lilacs

[Decado]

I noticed this year on my biggest (and very old) lilac bushes that there's hardly any new buds at all, just the old dead flowers/seeds from last year. This has never been a problem before, I've never seen the dead stuff in spring and there's always a large abundance of flowers. What's going on here?

[bullthistle]

Here in NC we had a hard winter and that will kill most flower buds like it did to my dogwoods.

[Decado]

They start budding before winter, not after? Also, all the smaller lilacs have a ton of buds on them, so I doubt it's anything to do with the hard winter.

[bullthistle]

FYI dogwoods bud in the fall and there were no blooms this year but if you think you're right, go for it.