Sensation Lilac

As low as $59.99 was $79.99
Availability: In stock
SKU
4850

Fabulous pinstriped blooms! Your home is a retreat, with carefully selected decor and furnishings. Your garden can become the same, and even offers the unparalleled benefits of blue sky, sunshine and gentle breezes! Select Sensation Lilac (Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation') to create excitement in your spring garden. All Lilacs are wonderful, but this special variety really takes it to the next level.

Lilac blooms are composed of hundreds of tiny florets. The florets cluster together in huge, fragrant panicles that rise from the branches in spring. Sensation trusses develop profusely across the entire shrub. Look closely, and you'll be treated to an enchanting sight. Each red-purple flower petal pops with a delicate edging of pristine white. You won't believe your eyes!

The flowers are hardy and long-lasting in cut floral arrangements. You'll want to bring plenty of that heavenly spring magic indoors. This outstanding shrub is an exceptional choice that makes a big impact on all who experience it. Sensation Lilac is also a boon to hummingbirds, butterflies, and beneficial pollinators that visit your yard in the spring.

After the blooms are done, Sensation Lilac becomes a workhorse for your landscape. Rich, blue-green, heart-shaped leaves are lushly held.

Planting and Application:

Even if you have a large Lilac collection in your yard, you'll want to give Sensation Lilac a high-profile place of honor. The gorgeous trusses are worth it! The fragrance alone deserves these shrubs to use front and center anywhere in your landscape!

Go big and bold with your garden design. Use one side of the planting for a large entertainment area. Add a hammock stand to the backside and you'll relish a private sanctuary all season long. Add a bench and even a notebook and pen tucked into a waterproof bag to write your loved one a weekly letter.

These vibrant, billowy shrubs provide shade and a desirable privacy screen. Use them to your best advantage with strategic planting decisions. Hide the utilitarian aspects of modern life. Screen the neighbor's barbeque. Shield your pool. Cozy up your patio seating.

Use these plants to live larger, even on a tiny modern lot. Lawn plantings add a charming sense of mystery to a ho-hum yard. Your space will look much larger if you can't see everything all at once. Underplant with spring-blooming bulbs. Tuck in smaller summer-flowering shrubs and include a few showy plants for fall color.

Use one at the corner of your home to anchor your foundation planting. Extend the mulched bed to include the new Sensation for the most attractive display. If you have a tall portico on the front of your home, add a pair of flanking on either side of the front door. Their upright form and ornamental blooms will welcome your guests with memorable style.

Establish a long hedge at your property line, a windbreak, or screening along the length of your pool deck. Use multiple Lilac varieties, or stick with Sensation, either option will look great. Plant six feet apart on center, measuring from the center of one to the center of the next. Stagger a second row in a zigzagging planting pattern for the fastest results.

Plant a large informal drift in the lawn to bisect your design, varying the spacing between plants. Double up some of the plants in the middle, but start and finish your drift with a single shrub on either end. Try a proven designer trick by screening off a portion of your property with Sensation Lilacs.

You can even grow them in a large outdoor container for many years. Keep them much shorter with a quick pruning after the lovely flowers are finished. Don't miss this year's crop of extremely high-quality Sensation Lilac. Our team works with garden designers across the country, and they love dazzling their clients with this showy variety.

Add varying heights, colors and textures by starting your own Lilac collection! Pair the shrubby Sensation with a tree-form Miss Kim Lilac Tree, and a soft, sweet Beauty of Moscow or Common Lilac. Or mix things up by mixing Sensation up with small Patio trees and later flowering shrubs and underplant with perennials and annuals to always have something blooming in your landscape!

This special plant can also help you memorialize a loved one. Plant a single Sensation Lilac to watch over a special garden statue or plaque.

  • Unique, Bi-colored Florets are Deep Purple-Red & White Edges
  • Profuse Display of Pyramidal Panicles
  • Long Bloom Time - Very Showy Flowers Last for Nearly a Month
  • Large, Heart-Shaped, Blue-Green Foliage
  • Incredible in Cut Flower Arrangements, Butterfly Magnet
  • Versatile in the Landscape, Easy-Care, Multi-Stemmed Shrub
  • Contemporary Hedge, Breezy Privacy, Adds Welcome Shade
  • Winner of the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Plant Sensation Lilacs in full sun. They flower best with six hours of direct sunlight, although they'll tolerate light shade. However, plants in partial shade will display fewer, and smaller blooms, not to mention less vigorous growth and color. Hardy in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 7, Lilacs are very cold hardy deciduous shrubs. Preferring enriched organic soil, plant Lilacs in soil that drains quickly after a rain, and if your soil retains water, bring in additional soil 18 inches high by three feet wide. Plant in that mound.

Like other young Lilac, Sensation needs a regular schedule of medium water. After their roots are established in your soil, they'll become water-wise. However, you should protect your investment by watering in extended droughts. Mulch over the root system. Apply a three-inch layer, and pull it back away from the main stems. You'll appreciate the way mulch helps cut down on your water bills!

Although Lilacs aren't the favorite food for deer, we do advise repellent spray if you live in an area with lots of deer. Spray on planting day, then reapply according to the label.

You'll be thrilled with the high performance of easy-care Sensation Lilac. Start with our expertly grown plant material to give you a huge head start on the garden of your dreams.

Don't miss a single bloom! Follow these easy Pruning steps for the best flowering:

In late winter or very early spring, remove any dead or old branches. Cut out the thickest stems out at ground level every other year. Do not do any other pruning until immediately after the Lilac flowers are done! Lilacs bloom on old wood, so this year's new growth will bloom the following year. Snip off the old flowers, then open up the interior by removing inward-heading branches.

Maintain an open canopy to ensure good air circulation and help prevent powdery mildew. You can also prune these bushes into a Sensation Lilac Tree form by removing lower branches to form a small, multi-trunked specimen.

  • Full Sun & Good Air Circulation
  • Moderate to Low Moisture Once Established
  • Loves Mulched Beds & Well-Drained Enriched Soil
  • Prune Immediately After Flowering Only
  • Not Preferred By Deer
  • Easy Care, Cold Hardy & Versatile
  • Lilacs Can Be Easily Kept Shorter With Trimming - Prune Immediately After Flowering
  • Long-Lived & Deer Resistant - They Don't Prefer the Taste

Lilacs work so hard to please. Take full advantage of their stature and low-maintenance nature. You'll love the pinstriped blooms, incredible fragrance and heart-shaped foliage of the sensational Sensation Lilac bush at NatureHills.com today! Place your order and enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

How big do Sensation Lilacs get?

A Sensation Lilac bush can obtain a mature height of around 8 - 10 feet and a mature width of 8 - 12 feet. You can easily prune them to any size or shape you need with annual trimming.

How fast do Sensation Lilacs grow?

Sensation Lilacs have a medium growth rate and one might see 1 - 2 feet of new growth per year in optimal growing conditions.

Is Sensation Lilac a tree or a bush?

Sensation Lilacs are shrub-form plants that can be pruned into small tree-form specimens if desired. They are typically sold with their lower limbs intact and have multi-stemmed/multi-trunked growth naturally.

Which is the most fragrant Lilac?

Lilac's iconic scent lasts for a week or more after they've opened and some of the most fragrant (arguably) are the Beauty of Moscow, President Grevy, the yellow Primrose and the Sensation Lilac!

What shipping options do you offer?

NatureHills.com works closely with our growers and nursery professionals to ensure we ship when it is most appropriate for your area. Our goal is to deliver the hardiest plants by avoiding extreme high and low temperatures. Check out our shipping schedule for more information and to learn our wills and won'ts when it comes to shipping plants. Find your Sensation Lilac for sale here at NatureHills.com!

Buying Options for Plants

Nature Hills sells a large variety of plants with several options available. Plants are offered in both potted containers and as dormant bare root without soil. Here is a helpful resource to understand your options as you create a beautiful landscape with help from Nature Hills.

Ever wonder what a larger plant will mean for your landscape? Container Sizes are really all about the age of the plant!

Seasonally, Nature Hills offers hand selected, high quality bare root trees, shrubs and perennials. Bare root plants are sold by height from the top of the root system to the top of the plant. Plants may be taller than the height minimums.

  • Popular sizes of select trees are 1 foot, 2 feet, 3 feet, etc.
  • Popular sizes of select bare root plants is 1 foot, 18 inches, etc.

Nature Hills Container Size by Volume

Keep in mind, specific varieties and different growing conditions can affect the rate at which plants grow. Variations in size may occur.

Young Plants to 18 Months
Size Volume
2"x2"x3" Ranges from .18 to .21 dry quarts / .198 to .23 dry liters in volume
4.5" Container Equal to .65 dry quart / .72 dry liter in volume
Sprinter Pot Equal to .63 dry quart / .69 dry liter in volume
4" Container Ranges from .31 to .87 / .35 to .96 dry liter in volume
6" Container Equal to 1.4 dry quarts / 1.59 dry liters in volume
1 Quart Equal to 1 dry quart / 1.1 dry liter in volume
5.5" Container Equal to 1.89 of a dry quart / 2.08 dry liters in volume
4"x4"x5" Ranges from .8 to 1.1 dry quarts / .88 to 1.2 dry liters in volume
4"x4"x6" Ranges from 1.0 to 1.3 dry quarts / 1.1 to 1.41 dry liters in volume
4"x4"x9" Ranges from 1.1 to 2.1 dry quarts / 1.2 to 2.3 dry liters in volume
4"x4"x10" Ranges from 1.7 to 2.3 dry quart / 1.87 to 2.53 dry liters in volume
Plants 18 Months - 2.5 Years Old
Size Volume
2 Quart Equal to 2 dry quarts / 2.2 dry liters in volume
#1 Container Ranges from 2.26 to 3.73 dry quarts / 2.49 to 4.11 dry liters in volume
5"x5"x12" Equal to 3.5 to 4.3 dry quarts / 3.85 to 4.74 dry liters in volume
Plants 2 - 4 Years Old
Size Volume
#2 Container Ranges from 1.19 to 1.76 dry gallons / 5.24 to 7.75 dry liters in volume
#3 Container Ranges from 2.32 to 2.76 dry gallons / 10.22 to 12.16 dry liters in volume
Plants 3 - 5 Years Old
Size Volume
#5 Container Ranges from 2.92 to 4.62 dry gallons / 12.86 to 20.35 dry liters in volume
#6 Container Ranges from 5.25 to 6.01 dry gallons / 23.12 to 26.42 dry liters in volume
#7 Container Ranges from 5.98 to 6.08 dry gallons / 26.34 to 26.78 dry liters in volume

About Plant Sentry™

Plant Sentry is designed to protect both consumers and the nursery trade from invasive plant pests and diseases. Sites that display the Plant Sentry protection badge are protected from consumers buying and nurseries shipping material carrying invasive pests and diseases.

This proprietary eCommerce software prevents the shipment of a restricted plant to each state. The Plant Sentry system includes a shipment certification program. The Plant Sentry Compliance Officer works closely with NatureHills.com and each nursery or fulfillment center to ensure only compliant plants are sold to customers.

Click Here to learn more

Plant Sentry

Shipping

To obtain a more accurate shipment time-frame, simply enter your zip code in the “Find Your Growing Zone” box to the right. Our plants are grown all over the country and lead time on items may be different because of this. Once your order is placed, you will also receive the specific shipment time-frame information as part of your order confirmation. Once an item ships, you will receive shipment notification and tracking numbers, so you can follow along while your plant travels to your doorstep. We use FedEx, UPS, or USPS at our discretion.

Due to winter weather we have put a hold on shipping to the areas shown below in grey. You can still order now and we will ship the plant to you during an appropriate time for your zone.

*If you have found your zone already, it will be highlighted in the table below.
Color Zone Times
3 Spring 2019
4 Now
5 Now
6 Now
7 Now
8 Now
9 Now
10 Now
11 Now

Shipping Rates

At Nature Hills we handle, package and ship the products you order with the utmost care to ensure healthy delivery. Shipping and handling charges are calculated based on the tables below. Please note that some items include an additional handling surcharge, these will be noted on the item's product page.

From To S&H
0 - 19.99 24.99
20 - 49.99 29.99
50 - 69.99 34.99
70 - 99.99 39.99
100 - 129.99 44.99
130 - 149.99 48.99
150 - 150+ Approx 28%

Click here to see our full rates

PLANT HIGHLIGHTS

Sensation Lilac Is Suited to Grow in Zones 3-7
Growing Zones 3-7
More Information
Brand Nature Hills' Choice
Botanical Name Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation'
Type Deciduous
Mature Height 8 - 10 feet
Mature Spread 8 - 12 feet
Sun Exposure Full Sun
Soil Well-Drained
Moisture Moderate. Low Once Established
Growth Rate Medium
Foliage Color Blue-Green
Pollinator Friendly Yes
Pruning Time After Flowering
Fragrant Yes