Plant Library

Other Names:  English Lavender, Common Lavender

Description:

This fabulous variety is a fragrant, robust lavender that, due to its short size and tightly held blooms, makes a great low hedge; it can also be massed in the garden; blooms profusely in spring and is then a fragrant gray green shrub

Edible Qualities

Munstead Lavender is a woody herb that is commonly 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

Munstead Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant purple flowers 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, Munstead Lavender is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Munstead Lavender will grow to be about 16 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. 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 is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Munstead Lavender is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. 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.