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Freeport Gardening Guide: Lavender

This is a how to guide to help anyone get started in gardening.

Lavender

Lavender Seeds, Ellagance Purple:

Description: (Lavandula angustifolia). Strong soothing fragrance and rich purple flower spikes make this reliable first-year blooming perennial a favorite!  Winner of the Fleuroselect Gold Medal. The compact and tidy plants reach just 10-12 inches.

Close-up macro shot of Ellagance Purple Lavender on brown background.

 

Lavender Seeds, Lavender:

Description: (Lavandula vera). Famous for fragrance, the lavender-colored blossoms are used in potpourris, soaps, and more. A great old-time cottage garden plant. This heirloom plant is perfect for pollinator gardens, borders, and containers.

Lavender sprigs on wooden railing.

 

Lavender Seeds, Munstead Strain:

Description: (Lavandula vera). Compact, superior northern-hardy strain. The plants seldom exceed a foot in height. Use the fragrant spikes as you would any lavender—potpourris, sachets, dried arrangements, etc. The silvery-gray foliage is elegant even when out of flower. A reliable as well as beautiful old-fashioned garden favorite.

Munstead Strain Lavender close up on light background.

 

Lavender Seeds, Origano:

Description: (Lavandula multifida). Silvery, oregano-scented foliage, as delicate as fine French lace, makes this a truly unique member of the lavender family! This first-season blooming perennial is native to the southern Mediterranean and is not cold hardy like other lavenders. It will need to be brought indoors or protected in zones 7 and cooler. Many northern gardeners treat the plants as annuals because they are easy to start from seed and will bloom in 15 weeks from sowing, then hold blooms all season long from there. Plants stand 1.5-2 feet tall and about as wide. It is beloved as a container and bedding ornamental for its frost-filagreed foliage and its brilliant purple flower spikes. A better lavender for the south, where English lavender typically struggles in the heat and humidity.

Origano Lavender on stone background.

 

Lavender Seeds, Torch Blue:

Description: (Lavandula multifida). Butterflies cannot resist this alluring lavender! This stunning aromatic ornamental hails from the Mediterranean and is also known as fern leaf lavender. The beautifully incised foliage is silvery, making the bold purple flower spikes really pop! It blooms from summer to frost, and the plants reach 24 inches tall and wide.

Blue Torch Lavender

 

Lavender Seeds, Torch Minty Ice:

Description: (Lavandula multifida). The icy blast of wintermint fragrance makes this a lavender you won’t forget. Silvery gray, ferny foliage and spikes of steely lavender-colored blooms give this edible ornamental a frosted look. The fragrance is an intoxicating mix of cool mint infused with traditional lavender! We love to tuck these tidy, 2.5-foot-tall plants into mixed container plantings, landscapes, and cottage gardens to add a touch of frosty elegance.

Torch Minty Ice Lavender growing outside in the Baker Creek gardens in Missouri.