birchwood,
Could he have said lamb's ear? stachys byzantina
I can't speak to your lilac question. Here's a lamb's ear photo.
Sally

Here is a link that might be useful: lamb's ear

Thank you Sally. The photo tells it all. Now I know how to proceed.
Two new bird arrivals last couple days tells me spring is around the bend. We had NINE Fox squirrels, TWO grey squirrles and FOUR red squirrels on the deck yesterday afternoon so I went out and had a chat with them, telling them the free ride was OVER!! Go back to the woods and earn an honest living!!

Here is a pretty informative site I found that may help to answer why there are no blooms on your lilacs-
Sunlight- fertilizers, lack of nutrients are all culprits- but pruning off next years buds is the usuall suspect on established plantings. I know I hate it when I have to prune my lilacs- as I will really feel it the NEXT spring!
There is more info about lilacs there as well-
I do hope you are able to find the reason this is happening listed there- and I do hope that this is your lucky year and you will have more blooms than ever!
Julie

Here is a link that might be useful: Why Lilacs do not Bloom info

Missed another strong possibility. Lilacs will NOT tolerate wet feet. They like dry-moist. Also planting too deep is a common problem. Both of these will produce poor growth. If your bushes look healthy, then neither of these are the culprit.

what's FMM?

Don't know how the others feel, but I had Lamb's Ears in a garden at our house in Ramsey and it had taken over! Took me a couple of seasons to get rid of it all.
Just an FYI

Linda

Okay folks, thanks for the LambsEar information. I believe our original "diagnosis" was correct about I.D. and the fact that we do NOT want a bunch of it around.
We have high hopes for this season, our fourth at the little cabin on the lake. We SHOULD get a few apples this year and we SHOULD get a bunch of strawberries. Maybe we will have some lilac blossoms. Tomatoes are no problem. And of course I forgot to mark the wild raspberries last fall so I could thin out parasites and none raspberrie plants from around them. I believe we would get a much larger crop of wild stuff if (when) I clear some of the evil things out of the way.
Oh. Almost forgot, out first little Charlie came to the door yesterday and I handed him a peanut. Some of them will come right in the big front room, get their peanut and then find their way back out. Don't panic if one of them gets into the house. Leave it alone and watch it and you will see it find its way OUT!!
Charlie=chipmunk

Lambswool another name for commion mullien, one of 40+. It is similar to lambs ear though not the same. (Verbascum thapsus). This thread and a plant identifier app i have are the only references I can find to the term lambswool for a plant.