How To Grow Lavender / RHS Gardening

Choosing a lavender

There are many different types of lavender, offering a range of flower colours, fragrances, plant sizes and levels of hardiness. The two most commonly grown types are:

English lavender and its hybrids (Lavandula angustifolia and L. × intermedia)

These are tough plants for borders or containers, and are usually hardy so can be left outside during winter in free-draining soil. They have a strong lavender scent, abundant purple or purple-blue flowers in summer and silver-grey leaves. Other flower colours include mauve, pink and white and these plants grow from 30cm (1ft) to 90cm (3ft) tall. Lavender is one of nine plants considered to be a high-risk host for the bacteria Xylella fastidiosa. Gardeners should be aware of the risks posed by purchasing imported plants of such high-risk hosts.

Lavandula angustifolia

Lavandula angustifolia

Lavandula × intermedia

Lavandula × intermedia

French and tender lavenders

These include:

• French lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
• Hybrid lavender (L. × chaytoriae)
• Spanish lavenders (L. latifolia, L. pedunculata and L. viridis)
• Tender lavenders, such as L. canariensis, L. dentata, L. lanata and L. pinnata from areas including Portugal, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

These are less hardy than English types and tend to be short-lived, so are best grown in containers and kept somewhere frost-free over winter, such as a greenhouse. Some of the more specialist types of lavender (such as those from southern Spain or the Canary Islands) aren't hardy, so cannot be left outside over winter. Check plant labels or online descriptions when buying. They have dense flower spikes, often in softer shades of mauve, pink or cream, with a distinctive tuft or ‘ears’ on top and a camphor-like scent. Plants grow to about 60cm (2ft) tall.

Lavandula stoechas

Lavandula stoechas

Buying a lavender

Plants are widely available during spring and summer in garden centres and online. To track down specific cultivars, you can use RHS Find a Plant.

Plants are usually sold in containers – 9cm (3½in) or larger – ready for planting.

Lavender is also sold as

Seedlings or young plants grown singly in small modules, with the advantage that they can be transplanted with minimal root disturbance. Bedding plants and young veg plants are often sold as plug plants of various sizes, with smaller ones requiring more aftercare. They usually need to be potted up and grown on indoors until large enough to plant outside.

plug plants in spring by some mail-order suppliers. This is a cheaper way to buy, especially in larger quantities, but the choice of cultivars is limited. Also, these tiny plants need to be looked after carefully for several months before they are large enough to plant into their final position.

Buying mail order plants

Buying mail order plants