Lavender Munstead

Add some sweet fragrance to your garden!

Lavender is one of my favourite perennials! We used to grow it in our cut flower fields many years ago. Its unmistakable sweet fragrance is widely used in commercial soaps, shampoos and air fresheners – but why settle for the artificial scent when it’s easy to grow fresh in your own garden!

Lavender is a low, woody, mounding perennial with small grey – green leaves and spikes of showy blue flowers in the summer. There are many varieties available, but I find Munstead to be the hardiest and most reliable variety for this area.

How to grow Lavender

Plants grow about a foot high and up to two feet wide, so perfect for the front of the bed. Plant in full sun in average to dry soil. Lavender does not like ‘wet feet’ and will be quite drought tolerant once it’s established. Due to its woodiness, do not cut back in the fall as you would other perennials – it will not be very forgiving! In the spring give it a light trim to remove old flower heads and tidy it up.

One of the great features of Lavender is that like other strongly scented plants, deer and rabbits will not eat it! (Out in the country that’s reason enough to grow it!) If you are interested in crafts or decorating with Lavender, harvest stems in full bloom and hang to dry. At the farm, it’s usually one of the first perennials to sell out, so come by soon for the best selection!

Did you know?

Lavender is from the mint family and the dried spikes look great in floral arrangements.