**Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia - shrub**

Lavender - Unquestionably the epitome of a tranquil English garden with its powerful aroma and timeless beauty. Lavender is invaluable for edging paths and borders, for attracting butterflies and bees, and its dried flowers have a plethora of uses.

Munstead Hidcote

Other plant pages: Plants home \| Lilies \| Architectural plants \| Burglar - proof \| Conifers \| Clematis \| Climbers \| Dry shade \| Fast-growing plants \| Foolproof plants \| Grasses \| Hardy geraniums \| Hedges and hedging plants \| Herbs \| Spring bulbs and winter shrubs \| Trees \| Trees Jan-June interest \| Trees July-Dec interest \| Waterlogged soil \| Plants Q & A. \| Spring collection	Buy plants online A-Z list
Landscapers palette: perennials \| shrubs \| trees \| climbers \| ground cover

Lavender is an excellent and reliable garden plant if planted in the right position, and every garden has a position that is right for lavender.

They can cope with cold and they can cope with wet, but they don't like the two together. In their native Mediterranean home, lavenders live in full sun on stony, poor impoverished soil. In your garden this translates to a sunny, though not necessarily full sun position in dryish soil - near the house or a wall is fine - where other plants would struggle for moisture, lavender will thrive.

What you get with lavender is dense spikes of fragrant, blue-purple summer flowers and aromatic, grey-green leaves. The species is rather large, frequently available varieties are "Hidcote" and "Munstead dwarf". French lavender Lavandula stoechas is a particularly beautiful variety, though less hardy than most, in particular they don't like exposed windy conditions.

Height and spread: Hidcote 60cm x 75cm (24" x 30") Munstead dwarf 45cm x 60cm (18" x 24")

Position: full sun

Soil: almost any, but not wet in winter

Rate of growth: average

Flowering period: July to September

Flower colour: blue-purple

Other features: the aromatic flowers and leaves can be used for making pot-pourri

Hardiness: fully hardy

Garden care: Cut back the stalks after the flowers have faded. Carefully trim back in April, taking care not to cut into old wood.

Uses - Hedging / mixed border

Planting distance when used for hedging
Clipped height Number of times to clip per season and when Responds to renovation? Pruning

30cm, 12"

0.6-1m, 2-3ft
1, after flowering No Deadhead only in autumn, leave pruning until spring so that the young buds can be protected. Young plants can be pruned to promote bushy growth, but regrowth ability diminishes with age. Plants may or may not grow again from old brown wood (tendency decreasing with age). Very large unruly plants are best replaced.