I wish. There's a lot of similarity, a lot.
I can't see anything like a flower or bud. Blooming season for Lilacs is the spring or May June... I was waiting to see what it would do, but it just keeps putting out these leaf clusters. Stems grow at a right angle to their branch.
This page: http://www.ehow.com/how_8164440_identify-lilacs.html
says the leaves would be directly opposite each other but this has alternate pattern.
Why do the branches grow horizontal, needing to be propped up to stand?
Oh please be a lilac, I love lilacs...

today I saw some leaves on the side, lower, that looked like this:

At least I feel less silly for not knowing!

I posted this on Name That Plant and they think it's Nightshade...

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3055240/m=23/what-is-this-growing-in-my-garden-se-pa-usa

I posted
on more forums and someone said it looked like Four O'Clocks which
would make sense... I had Four O'Clocks last year about 5 feet away.
They also drooped like this, but I don't think they had the right-angle
stems.

The thing is, how could a Four O'Clock that hadn't appeared by fall
survive and grow through a terribly cold winter (this was terrible,
months below freezing).

Could this be Four O'Clocks?

How tall is it? Four O'Clocks supposedly only get to 3 feet.

Its about the right height for the Four O'Clocks I grew last year, but another forum also said Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara
and I found this picture of
Solanum dulcamara showing the two kinds of leaves I saw
today
http://newfs.s3.amazonaws.com/taxon-images-1000s1000/Solanaceae/solanum-dulcamara-le-ahaines.jpg

OK i am convinced it is Nightshade- thank you everyone :)

Confirming Solanum - but where do you live? There are some other Solanums which live in mild climates which are similar and yours looks a little shrubby for S dulcamara. Although if it has been repeatedly cut back it could end up like that.

Hi- I am in Pennsylvania in the US- just about 80 miles south of NYC. (That "SE PA" reference doesn't mean much outside of the US, sorry about that!)

When I saw that picture of the nightshade plant with the two kinds of leaves, and looked at the leaf I had taken from the plant that sold me on nightshade. Also all three forums came to the same conclusion.

I thought about keeping it, it's pretty and what I read is that its not so deadly as make-you-sick-ly. I also love a survivor, one of my rules for my garden is they have to demonstrate the will to survive... I like that it's native, nightshade can be edible, if you really know what you're doing, I even found a gardener who specializes in poison plants
[url=http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/atropa_belladonna.htm]Atropa Belladonna, deadly nightshade - THE POISON GARDEN website[/url]

and I would love to let it flower just to confirm it is nightshade

but

I have a 7 year old, there's more young kids and babies in our community, the neighbor just over the other fence you see has toddler grandchildren who visit, and there's lots of little dogs around here... I am growing my edibles in the same spot (strawberries, sage, basil) I just can't risk a pretty plant with attractive berries that is toxic in every way, could even harm by brushing against it... it for my curiousity.

And... this is my best chance to actually get rid of it, before it flowers. I read up on how to kill it and - it aint easy. Several times it said "this could take years". The weed killer is so potent as to destroy anything near it, and heaven knows what for my edibles... and still takes years:

[url=http://homeguides.sfgate.com/eradicate-nightshade-75651.html]How to Eradicate Nightshade | Home Guides | SF Gate[/url]

So this morning after I soaked it and donned my gloves and started to pull it out of the ground, I felt validated to see those roots come from the other side of my fence. I did not plant this, the roots are what were described for Nightshade... walks like a duck.

I threw it into the bushes, partially because I hadn't really thought about what I was going to do with it once it was out, it came out so easily on the first try. I got all the roots on my side of the fence and about 6 inches into the other side of the fence. It will probably try to come back.

And then I also noticed this little plant growing amidst my morning glories. I had noticed it over the last couple days, how it looked different and grew faster, but I thought it was a moonflower (Ipomoea) or a hyacinth bean.

I did plant moonflowers and hyacinth beans. I collected the seeds from last year and tossed them all back in a couple weeks ago. The seeds were all together, and I don't know if I got any moonflowers and I only had like 7 hyancinth bean seeds.

So... anyone know if this sprout is nightshade, moonflower or hyacinth bean?

Many thanks!

Nightshade again. I pulled the sprout out from behind the netting and
saw this. The telltale little wing at the base of the leaf. I was
thinking that it was probably growing so fast like the other one because
it's roots were established on the other side of the fence. When I
pulled it out (not as easy or satisfying as the big one) sure enough the
roots came from the other side of the fence.