Natural beauty: May's evocative lilacs

‘Sensation’ (S. v. ‘Sensation’) was discovered by Dirk Eveleens Maarse (1881-1975) in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, in 1938 while forcing a crop of the lavender-flowered S. v. ‘Hugo de Vries’ in his greenhouses for the Christmas cut-flower market. Technically a “periclinal chimera,” this naturally occurring genetic mutation produced the first bicoloured lilac. Prune out any branches that don’t flower in two tones; Zone 3.