Looks like Syringa vulgaris 'Lilac'.

To me the stems look like Forsythia. The leaves are quite large but that could be due to hard pruning.

looks to me.. that we need a closeup of a leaf and stem ... perhaps with a scale ...

whatever it is.. it needs REJUVENATION PRUNING.. should you wish to have it in a more pleasant shape...

once you get the Id.. take the subject over to the shrub forum ...

ken

Are those white flowers near the top? To me it looks like Mockorange, Philadephus.

Leaves are opposite, so not forsythia. I agree with Jeanne; the leaves look like Philadephus/mockorange to me.

Thanks for your input. Here's a close-up. Hope that helps.

Shannon

Thanks for your input. Here's a close-up. Hope that helps.

Shannon

{{!gwi}}

Oh, and there are no flowers. No sign of anything coming, either.

If it was a forsythia their blooms are long gone. How long ago did you move in? I prune my neighbors forsythia for her and it blooms early May in my area of PA.

We just moved in last week.

nhbabs - Forsythias here have opposite leaves. Can we get a close up of an older stem showing buds and lenticels?

Forsythia here bloom at the same time my daffodils bloom. Its very pretty early spring in my yard with all of the yellow. BTW to me it looks like a forsythia. I just took a look at my neighbors which is growing over the fence to compare. Looks dead on to what she has.

Does this shot help?

nhbabs: I Googled forsythia and see that several sources say that forsythia is identified in part by opposite leaves (one source mentioned they are opposite to sub-opposite). Maybe they are sub-opposite in your region?

Still Forsythia imo. Those lenticels are typical.

Thank you for your help. I will ask my neighbour about the flowers on it; that should clarify pretty quickly. (I'll post what she tells me here if you are curious).