Other Names:  English Lavender, Common Lavender

Description:

A beautiful and aromatic flowering shrub covered with full, tall spikes of violet blue blooms in summer; an excellent choice for low, informal hedging, borders, or formal gardens; plant near doors and walkways where the lovely scent can be appreciated

Ornamental Features

Blue Spear Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant royal blue flowers with violet overtones rising above the foliage from late spring to late summer, which emerge from distinctive purple flower buds, and which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive fragrant needle-like leaves remain bluish-green in color with hints of grayish green throughout the year.

Landscape Attributes

Blue Spear Lavender is a dense multi-stemmed annual with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and 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 bees and 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.

Blue Spear Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Blue Spear Lavender will grow to be about 10 inches tall at maturity extending to 14 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 12 inches. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. Although it's not a true annual, this slow-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant 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.

Blue Spear Lavender is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting 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 growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.