This beautiful shrub is in my neighbors garden. Do you know what it is? The leaves are small and seem to be variegated. Could it be a syringa ?

I already have this shrub identified from a Facebook gardening site here in Iceland. They say it is Syringa meyeri 'PALIBIN'. The variegated leaf color could be due to soil condition or a virus. Do you agree?

Blooming at this time of year, my first thought was Leptodermis, but leptodermis flowers have five petals, and with more narrow leaves. It's definitely a syringa, and there are some that bloom in the fall, but not Palibin. Lilacs that bloom only in the spring, like Palibin, have flower buds that are produced in the summer and remain through winter to bloom the following spring. It is extremely doubtful there could already be enough cold for a long enough period to trigger bloom of Palibin, even in a very weird fall in iceland, I suspect.

I think it is one the the lilac cultivars that can normally bloom in the fall, like Josee.

As for the variegated leaves, it could be a virus, but more likely it is a trait of the cultivar.

So sorry, I forgot to say that this picture was taken on July 10th this year, I think the shrub started blooming in late June. Blooming time is later here than in Minneapolis, most likely a month later. Thank you Rick. This is the first time I hear of Leptodermis. It is a small but beautiful shrub, - I don´t think it has been grown here, but I would really like to try growing it from seed.

Yes, then it very well could be Palibin.

Leptodermis oblonga barely makes it here, and blooms probably two out of three years, once it is established, which takes about four years for me. I think, because it blooms late in the season, your climate will be too cold and short.