Plant Library

Other Names:  English Lavender, Lavandin

Description:

Very large flower heads on long stems cover this large growing variety; lovely gray green foliage is beautifully fragrant; excellent for borders, containers, and massing in the garden; considered to be one of the best for essential oil

Edible Qualities

Super Lavender is a woody herb that is typically grown for its edible qualities. It produces which are harvested from mid to late summer. The have a potent taste.

The are most often used in the following ways:

• Drying

Features & Attributes

Super Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant lavender flowers with violet calyces rising above the foliage from early to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive grayish green evergreen foliage. The fragrant needles are highly ornamental and turn coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

This is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen woody herb with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and can be pruned at anytime. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Aside from its primary use as an edible, Super Lavender is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Herb Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Super Lavender will grow to be about 30 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This plant is typically grown in a designated herb garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Super Lavender is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.