French Lavender

Lavandula Regal Splendour

• Position: full sun
• Soil: fertile, well-drained soil
• Rate of growth: average
• Flowering period: April to May
• Hardiness: fully hardy (borderline)

  
  From fat round flowerheads, delicate, upright flags emerge like butterfly wings and flutter in the breeze among grey-green aromatic leaves. This French lavender has dark purple flowers and looks wonderful planted en masse in a protected, sunny border where its heady fragrance can be enjoyed. Like most French lavenders, it is earlier flowering than its English cousins, but associates well with them if you want to prolong the season of lavender in your garden. The flower-spikes are also a magnet for bees and other nectar-loving insects.
  

  As it's borderline hardy it is best grown in a container in colder areas of the country and should be over-wintered in a cool greenhouse or conservatory.
  

• Garden care: Cut back the stalks after the flowers have faded to retain a compact shape. Carefully trim back in April, taking care not to cut into old wood.
  
  
• Goes well with: Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht', Echinops ritro, Perovskia 'Blue Spire', Stachys byzantina, Artemisia 'Powis Castle', Eryngium giganteum