Whatever the size of your garden, you may be considering adding lavender as a beautiful touch around your porch or to fill borders. What’s great about this plant is that it grows tall and wide, has a beautiful smell and attracts bees.
Where to grow lavender
You can choose to put lavender along garden paths where you can enjoy their scent. You could also plant them in herb gardens, adding some shade for the smaller herb plants and introducing some new colour to the herb bed. Hedges and borders are also a good idea, because lavender can line the border quite well, adding definition to your garden design. Many people decide to add lavender around their porch or BBQ area, where they are likely to sit in the evening. This is because lavender is a natural pest repellent and the scent deters mosquitoes, flies and fleas from coming near. You may see a few beautiful bees and butterflies instead!
How to grow lavender
The Spruce.com says that you should make sure you have plenty of space between your plants for air flow and always plant in a sunny location. It is dampness more than cold, that is responsible for killing lavender plants, so you’ll want to be sure that you plant your varieties far enough away from each other. Remember that they do spread quite rapidly so expect some growth.
You should also remember to prune your plants. Lavender can get out of control quickly if left. It can cover walkways and really dominate a garden if not tended to each year with care. The Spruce suggests that the taller varieties can be cut back by approximately one-third of their normal height. Lower growing varieties can either be pruned back by a couple of inches or cut down to new growth.
Using lavender
A big reason lavender is so valued in the gardening world is that the flowers keep their fragrance when dried. Many people pick the flowers and leave the fried plants under radiators or around the house to help spread the perfumed scent around the interior.
Lavender flowers are also edible. Some people decide to make lavender tea or lavender scented drinks, like lemonade. Other people decide to bake lavender into cookies or cakes for a scented, perfumed taste.
Types of Lavender
There are many types of lavender. The most usual ones are:
English Lavender – e.g. ‘Munstead’ with blue-purple flowers and grows about 18″ tall
Lavandin – e.g. ‘Provence’ which dries well and grows to around 30″ tall
Fringed Lavender – more bushy and only grows to about 3” tall
Spanish Lavender – grows flowers high above foliage for a pretty look
For more information about what flowers might look good in your new garden design, contact Gardens R Us today. They can help with all manners of garden designs, large and small, traditional or modern.
