Lavendula Angustifolia - Lavender

Lavender - latin name Lavendula Angustifolia.
Scented plants are a must in every Mediterranean garden. Lavenders are hardy perennials and drought tolerant plants that has not only scent but beautiful blue and purple coloured flowers. Lavender also works well as a hedging plant as well as traditionally planted in an herbaceous border - the quintessentially English lavender cottage garden look.
Lavendula Angustifolia has been cultivated for thousands of years, and with good reason. It’s a beautiful, fragrant herb and flower perennial plant which will tolerate a wide range of growing conditions. Any garden can benefit from a few Lavender plants! 
Native to the Mediterranean, Lavender was brought to the UK by the Romans, and by the 1700’s there was a thriving lavender oil industry here. Today it remains a very popular garden plant. The evergreen narrow, bluish-green leaves thickly cover the woody stems of this perennial herb, with fresh green new growth starting in early spring. By early summer the spikes of purple-blue flowers will push up, creating a cloud of fragrant beauty. They make excellent cut flowers, and can also be harvested before fully open and dried, either for dry flower arrangements or to remove the dried buds for use in sachets or pot-pourri. 
Hardy throughout most of the UK, Lavendula Angustifolia will grow to a mature height of 90 cm, although it can be pruned to a smaller size if desired. Remove spent flower stalks in late summer, and in spring remove dead stems once new growth has started. For planting in a clump or as a hedge, space plants 4-6 per metre.  
Lavendula Angustifolia will thrive in dry, sandy soil, and in fact needs well-drained soil to grow at all. They should be planted in a moderately fertile neutral to alkaline pH soil, in full sun facing south or west. They are salt-tolerant and thus a great choice for planting in coastal regions, and will suffer little from deer and rabbits in a country setting. Very tolerant of pollution, they thrive equally well in city gardens. 
Lavender makes an excellent container plant for a rooftop terrace or courtyard, where even in winter its evergreen foliage will release its trademark fragrance when brushed against. It’s a classic for a country garden’s mixed border, and makes an excellent low hedge in a formal or cottage garden.
Lavendula Angustifolia, with its fragrance, lovely flowers, and evergreen foliage, is a wonderful addition to any UK garden!

Scented Lavender plants are available to buy online at Paramount Plants, the Mediterranean Plant Specialist Nursery, in Enfield, North London.