Lavish Lavender: A Guide to Growing and Using Lavender

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Other lavender varieties are used in quantity for hedges in other sections of the display gardens. In the lavender bed, Mulder has planted only one specimen of each, with the tallest specimens toward the center. She even plants some of the tender cultivars that she expects to lose if the winter is severe. The bed changes from week to week, with new species coming into flower as others finish blooming. There are lavenders still blooming in late October.

The lavenders in the bed are interplanted with blue- and white-flowering perennials and annuals: several kinds of nepetas (Six Hills Giant catmint is a favorite), some upright rosemaries, bachelor’s-buttons, dwarf candytuft, Russian sage, veronicas, and a white carpet of alyssum. It is a casual and charming mix of flowers and foliage.

Lasting Lavender

Lavender has long been a mainstay of English gardens, from flower borders at elegant manors to informal cottage gardens in delightful disarray. The classic garden designer Gertrude Jekyll used it generously in nearly every border and bed she shaped. (L. angustifolia ‘Munstead’ was named for Munstead Wood, her home in Surrey, England.) She used it in combinations, such as lavender and rosemary, that have never gone out of fashion on either side of the Atlantic.

Today’s herb gardeners cherish lavender as well, and it’s unlikely ever to fall from favor. In large gardens in hospitable climates, massed lavender can be a unifying force, providing rhythm and continuity with its free-form drifts of purple flowers and sturdy foliage that is attractive through the seasons. Even the smallest yard offers the chance to pair up lavender with other herbs and flowers and to discover some wonderful combinations. Gardeners who know lavender only as an isolated clump haven’t yet discovered its potential.

Growing Lavender

Lavandula, a member of the mint family (Labiatae or Lamiaceae), is native to the Mediterranean region but is cultivated in many other parts of the world. The lavender grown commercially for its fragrant oil comes mainly from Europe, particularly England and France, where lavender fields and farms spread over thousands of acres. The most useful kinds of lavender for home landscapers are the English lavenders (L. angustifolia) and the lavandins (L. ¥ intermedia), as well as their numerous cultivars. (Lavandins are sterile hybrids of L. angustifolia and the tender spike lavender, L. spica.) These forms are also valued by commercial growers for the quality of their essential oils. English lavenders and lavandins are hardy to Zone 5, and the lavandins can thrive as far south as Florida, where L. angustifolia languishes. Here are some guidelines for providing a comfortable spot in the garden for lavenders.

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