Lavender plants add color, texture, and fragrance to a garden. Lavender also attracts pollinators and is an ideal plant for homemade potpourri mixes. Some varieties even produce edible leaves and flowers with a lemony, minty flavor.
Of the 47 species of lavender, we’re featuring 10 of the best varieties you might like to grow. First: some general info on growing this lovely, sweet-smelling member of the mint family.
Growing Lavender
Lavender is the common name for plants in the Lavandula genus. These plants are native to Eurasia, especially the Mediterranean region but it is now cultivated throughout the world.
Lavender plants are small shrub perennials, known for sweet fragrances and blue, purple, or violet flowers. They’re heat-tolerant and drought-tolerant and grow well in nutrient-poor soils. They’ve been cultivated for their fragrance and therapeutic uses for thousands of years and remain a popular choice for herb or flower gardens. Lavender would make an excellent addition to a vintage flower garden.
The general requirements and characteristics of lavender include:
- Hardiness Zones: 3–10 (varies slightly across varieties).
- Light: full sun.
- Soil: well-draining soil; the ideal soil for lavender is sandy, alkaline, and low in clay.
- Ideal Planting Time: planting in spring, after the last frost, is best; plant in spring or fall in zones 8 and above.
- Bloom Time: summer.
- Mature Size: up to 3 ft. (91 cm) tall and 3 ft. wide.
Using Lavender
Lavender grows in a compact mass of stalks, with silvery-green foliage and upright flower spikes. Lavender plants look great in any sunny area and there’s no need to relegate them to an herb or vegetable garden. Plant lavender along walkways, in window boxes, containers on a patio, or mixed in the dense plantings of a cottage garden or flower border.
During summer, you can snip foliage and flowers for putting in vases or drying for potpourri or crafts. From some varieties, you can also use the leaves or flowers for teas, garnishes, or baked goods.
Types of Lavender
English Lavender
(Lavandula angustifolia)
English lavender, also known as common lavender, is the most popular Lavandula species. Common lavender offers gorgeous purple flowers and richly colored silver-green foliage. This species is a favorite in fragrant herb gardens. It’s also the best type of lavender for culinary uses.
Spanish Lavender
(Lavandula stoechas)
Spanish lavender is a popular variety known for its unique flowers. Atop dark purple flower heads, lavender petals stick out like rabbit ears. Spanish lavender is especially heat tolerant and thrives in warm, dry climates that resemble its native Mediterranean region.
Sweet Lavender
(Lavandula heterophylla)
Despite the name, sweet lavender isn’t suitable for cooking with due to its high menthol content. It does, however, offer a strong, sweet fragrance. Compared to some other varieties, sweet lavender’s leaves are a more vibrant shade of green and the plant grows taller. Sweet lavender is also known to be particularly durable and drought-tolerant.
Yellow Lavender
(Lavandula viridis)
Lavandula viridis is known alternately as green lavender (for its bright green leaves) or yellow lavender (for its yellow flowers). This species has long, vertical flower spikes and a distinct piney, lemony fragrance. It’s ideal along walkways where the scent can be enjoyed, or harvested and dried for potpourri.
Dutch Lavender
(Lavandula x intermedia)
Dutch lavender is a hybrid cross of Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula latifolia. This variety has compact upright growth, shooting upward as a lovely mass of tall flower spikes. Dutch lavender is also intensely fragrant and grown commercially for use in perfumes and potpourris.
French Lavender
(Lavandula dentata)
The distinguishing feature of French lavender is its serrated foliage, with tightly arranged rounded ruffles. French lavender plants are less fragrant than some other varieties, but offer the familiar purple flowers along with above-average drought and heat tolerance.
Fernleaf Lavender
(Lavandula multifida)
Fernleaf lavender has feathery pale green foliage that resembles ferns. The flowers are a lovely deep shade of violet, sticking out from long stems that shoot up above the foliage. This variety is lovely as a potted patio plant, and is also a favorite among bees and butterflies.
Broadleaved Lavender
(Lavandula latifolia)
Broadleaved lavender’s gray-green leaves are wider than those of most lavender plant varieties. The stems are more carefree and clustered, rather than tidy and straight. This variety is intensely aromatic, and an ideal choice for a fragrance garden.
Jagged Lavender
(Lavandula pinnata)
Jagged lavender is one of the most aesthetically pleasing Lavandula species. This variety displays lacy silver-green foliage and an abundance of deep bluish-purple flowers. Jagged lavender plants deserve highly visible locations along walkways and garden beds, or harvested for fresh or dried flower arrangements.
Woolly Lavender
(Lavandula lanata)
Woolly lavender leaves are covered in a dense layer of tiny hairs. This gives the foliage a silvery appearance and a fuzzy texture. Woolly lavender also produces long-lasting purple blooms in late summer.
Adding Fragrance to Your Garden
There’s a lot to love about lavender: it produces dense foliage and colorful flowers with minimal maintenance, and it’s an ideal choice for poor soils in drought-prone areas. Lavender is also prized for its velvety, floral fragrance. Find more ideas for growing a sweet-smelling garden here: 8 of the Most Fragrant Perennials for a Scented Garden.
Great insights on lavender varieties! Quick question: I’m curious if sweet lavender’s fragrance differs significantly from English lavender in practice. And, when it comes to using lavender for culinary purposes, is English lavender the safest bet? Thanks for sharing such useful info!
Hi Marta,
English lavender is widely considered to have the most pleasant flavor for culinary uses. Any variety of the Lavandula angustifolia species would be appropriate for teas and cooking. Regarding sweet lavender, this species contains menthol. While we haven’t had the opportunity to experience the scent of the two different species side by side, it’s likely that there would be a subtle camphor note to sweet lavender’s fragrance.
Can lavender be a inside plant
Hi Dixie,
Lavender can be grown indoors year-round, but it must have optimal conditions, including a bright location that receives at least 6 hours of sunlight daily, warm temperatures (no cold drafts, but also not right next to air vent that may cause drying), and well-draining soil. Artificial lighting may be used if you don’t have an ideal window location.