If you’re planting a new lilac, good varieties are deep pink ‘Charles Joly’ and ‘Katherine Havemeyer’. There’s an unusual yellow lilac, ‘Primrose’, which has tight clusters of ...

‘Katherine Havemeyer’ with double -flowered lavender blooms and S. meyeri ‘Palibin’ – a slow-growing shrub with pale lilac-pink flowers. There are also bi-coloured types such as ...

All are presently lined up in pots for planting out. I also have a variegated form of Katherine Havemeyer, which started life as a sport on a lilac growing in the Queen Mother’s garden at Birkhall — ...