Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Lavender Plant Features

What more can you say about lavender? This amazing perennial sports fragrant blue-green foliage, blue-purple flowers all summer long, and all parts of the plant can be used fresh or dried in recipes or in sachets and potpourris. Plus, lavender flowers will attract butterflies to your garden! It's simply a must-have plant for the flower and landscape borders, herb gardens, or container gardens. Lavender is especially effective planted along walkways and in window boxes where you can enjoy the heavenly fragrance every time you walk by.

In addition to being beautiful and fragrant, lavender is easy to grow if you have a warm, sunny spot. It's drought tolerant and deer and rabbit resistant, too. Plus, it attracts bees and butterflies. For best fragrance, harvest lavender in the morning, just after the dew dries. Flowers that are just about to open are typically the strongest scented.

There are dozens of lavender varieties available, that grow in different sizes and have blooms of varying color. Pick the type that works best for your look.

Lavender Questions?
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Lavender Growing Instructions

Light for Lavender Plants: Grow lavender in a warm, sunny spot -- this plant likes lots and lots of light. Full sun (at least 6 to 8 hours) of direct light per day is best.

Soil for Lavender: One key to success for lavender is to plant it in well-drained soil that doesn't stay wet or muddy after a rain. It even thrives in sandy soils where other plants are likely to sulk. If you have heavy clay or a soil that doesn't drain well, enjoy growing lavender by planting it in raised beds.

Fertilizing Lavender: In good or average soil, lavender typically doesn't require fertilizer to thrive. You can fertilize if you wish, to get more or faster growth, though. Use any general-purpose fertilizer and follow the directions on the product packaging.

Pruning Lavender: Because lavender has a woody base, it's best to prune it in early spring, after the new growth starts to peek out. If you live in a cold-winter climate, don't prune your lavender back in autumn or winter as this can reduce its hardiness. Deadheading old lavender flowers during the growing season can help encourage it to produce more new flowers.

Lavender is not intended for human or animal consumption.

Water

Medium water needs
Light

Outside: Sun
Colors

Blue
Special Features

Attracts butterflies

Colorful foliage

Deer/rabbit resistant

Fragrant flowers/foliage

Complement your Lavender

Artemisia
Dwarf varieties of silver-leaved Artemisia pair beautifully with the blue-gray foliage of Lavender.

Geranium, Perennial
Cranesbill Geranium makes a wonderful partner for Lavender.

Rose, Knock Out
Knock Out Rose and Lavender are a sweet and colorful team.

Our favorite varieties

Anouk Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'Anouk'

One of the most fragrant Spanish lavenders available, ‘Anouk’ produces breathtaking light and dark purple flowers throughout the summer. It’s pretty, feathery, gray-green foliage is another reason why this richly perfumed plant deserves a prominent spot in your container garden or flower border. Zones 6-10

Lady English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Lady'

This delightful, award-winning English lavender is one of the easiest varieties to grow. It features delicate wands of lavender-purple flowers in early summer and grows a foot tall and wide. Zones 4-8

Mulberry Ruffles Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'Mulberry Ruffles'

A re-blooming variety that starts in spring and continues through fall, Mulberry Ruffles Spanish lavender sports soft, purple-pink flowers and grows 2 feet tall and wide. Zones 8-9

Munstead English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead'

This classic variety of English lavender boasts loads of purple flowers in early summer. The plant grows 18 inches tall and wide and is hardy in Zones 5-8.

Winter Lace Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'Winter Lace'

Flowering all summer long, 'Winter Lace' Spanish lavender shows off violet-purple blooms on a mounding 2-foot plant. Zones 8-9

Ellagance Purple English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Ellagance Purple'

Easy-to-grow Ellagance Purple is a full-sun plant that blooms in midsummer, showing off wands of violet-purple flowers. It grows 12 inches tall and wide. Zones 5-8

SuperBlue English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'SuperBlue'

SuperBlue is a plant for full sun that shows off fragrant wands of lavender-purple flowers in early and midsummer. It stands out from other lavenders because of its large blooms. SuperBlue grows 12 inches tall and wide. Zones 4-9

Platinum Blonde English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Platinum Blonde'

One of the best lavender varieties we've ever had in our Trial Garden, 'Platinum Blonde' English lavender holds up to heat and humidity well. It also shows off cream-edged foliage and fragrant lavender-blue flowers in summer. It grows 2 feet tall and wide. Zones 6-9

Silver Anouk Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk'

A stunning heat-tolerant variety, Silver Anouk shows off silvery-blue foliage and rich purple flowers. Silver Anouk typically grows 24 inches tall and 20 inches wide, making it perfect for most gardens and landscapes. Zones 6-9

With Love Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'With Love'

With Love Spanish lavender is an exceptional variety with pink flowers and blue-green leaves. It grows 20 inches tall and wide. Zones 6-9

Blue Scent English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Blue Scent'

Blue Scent lavender is perfect for small spaces and container gardens. It offers blue-purple flowers in summer and grows 12 inches tall and wide. Zones 5-8

Hidcote English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'

Hidcote lavender is a classic variety that shows off rich purple-blue flowers and silvery-gray foliage. It grows 18 inches tall and wide. Zones 5-8

Luxurious Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas 'Luxurious'

Luxurious Spanish lavender is a reblooming variety that delights gardeners and butterflies alike with its spikes of purple flowers all summer. It grows 16 inches tall and wide. Zones 6-9

Ellagance Pink English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Ellegance Pink'

Unlike most varieties, Ellagance Pink lavender shows off soft pink blooms instead of the more traditional violet-blue. Like other selections, though, it tolerates heat and drought, resists deer and rabbits, and is wonderfully fragrant. Ellangance Pink grows 16 inches tall and wide. Zones 5-8 as a perennial, but sometimes it's treated as an annual in colder areas.