Everything You Need To Know About Lavender (Plus 5 Kinds To Grow)

Everything you need to know about lavender is a lot. Remember the Encyclopedia Britannica? The final hardcover edition—with 32 alphabetized volumes and 32,640 pages of cold, hard facts—was about the amount of space it would take to cover all aspects of the endlessly fascinating and fragrant flowers that belong to the lavender family.

At Gardenista headquarters, we don’t have the 100 full-time editors and 4,000 contributors (including Pulitzer Prize winners and the odd US President) that Britannica boasted in its heyday. But we do have personal experience to call upon. As I type, five of my favorite lavenders are thriving in my garden in northern California (USDA zone 10a, where average winter temperatures don’t dip much below 38 degrees Fahrenheit).

Not all members of the Lavandula clan are equal (some have refused to grow in my garden, which we’ll address later). So let’s start with the general tips. Here’s what lavenders like: Sun. Warmth. Well-drained soil (lavenders are drought tolerant and, once established, can go weeks without water).

Here’s what lavenders hate: Cold. Fog. Wet roots. Snow. Ice.

With that in mind, here’s a closer look at five of my favorite kinds of lavender, currently blooming in my garden.

Photography by Leslie Santarina, except where noted.

In early spring (March), tender, young lavenders have soft stems, velvety leaves, and delicate, tight flower buds. Later in the growing season, at the height of the summer, these same plants will look battle-weary, with browning leaves at the base of long, bare stems—and big, fat flowers.

Here’s a cheat sheet about lavenders, for when you’re shopping at a plant nursery.

Colors: In addition to the soft, dusty purple shade that lends lavender its name, cultivars can flower in deep purple, blue, pink, or white hues. Purple tones are dominant.

Growing conditions: Lavenders are perennial flowers in USDA growing zones 5 to 10. To review, they like a Mediterranean climate: dry, hot, and sunny.

Companion plants: In the garden, lavender works well if planted in clumps or as a low hedge. It mixes well with roses (they like the same growing conditions, and lavender’s bushiness will hide spindly, thorny stems) and with wildflowers such as poppies and Echinacea. In an edible garden, lavender’s strong scent can distract aphids and other pests from the vegetables.