i dont understand..

next years flower buds started to form in about august..

if you mean they are actually flowering.. what can you do ...

pix might really help ...

you would be in bigger trouble.. if the plant had no buds ...

ken

what I mean is- you know what a shrub starts to look like in spring? that is what my lilac bush looks like right now, like new leaves are budding. Little green buds I will load a pic tomorrow

Buds will swell any time that the weather warms up after the plant's required chill period. In my observation, lilac buds are pretty hardy. However, I would by preference plant your lilac in the ground and mulched the ground around it well (though not against the trunk) if possible, as the general rule is that a plant needs to be about 2 zones hardier than the actual zone to survive in a pot over the winter and lilacs aren't zone 1/2 hardy. If you can't plant it for some reason, surround the potted plant with mulch that won't pack down, such as bark mulch or large trash bags of dry leaves to help protect it from temperature extremes and swings. If you don't either plant it or surround the pot with mulch, you may well lose it.