5 Types of Lavender that Smell Heavenly
Have you been mesmerized by a field of lavender? It’s one of the most relaxing and sensory experiences. The colours, the aromas and the sounds of softly buzzing bees enhances the whole experience.
Lavender makes a wonderful addition to your home garden for that reason- the heavenly scent. It is a relatively easy plant to grow in Zone 6 and is known for its longevity and hardiness.
With their vivid color, cut lavender flowers make a nice addition to a home’s interior. A gift of lavender flowers symbolizes purity, devotion, serenity, hence our name. And in some schools of thought, it represents love. Not only does the flower have significance, the purple colour is also symbolic. Purple is the color of royalty and speaks of elegance, refinement and luxury.
It is certainly a flower you can grow to appreciate. If you love lavender, there are many varietals to choose from, making it easy to become a collector! Just like us at Serenity Lavender. We have over 40 varieties of lavender on display on site in our gardens and in our field.
In this post we will be focusing on 5 different varietals of Lavendula Angustifolia or English lavender. Read more to learn which lavender is best for your home and garden. For more information about plant care see our Gardener’s Guide to Growing Lavender.
Folgate Lavender
One of the first to to bloom, a coveted favourite. The plant grows 20-24″ and is a compact tidy bush with vivid, bright violet flowers. Soft, sweetly aromatic blooms abound on this dense mid green evergreen with narrow foliage and small neat looking upright spikes. Beautiful as an informal hedge, in rock gardens, and in mass plantings along sunny borders. Folgate is an excellent source of lavender oil and is terrific for culinary use. It is one of the varietals that we use in our culinary lavender.
- Sun: full
- Water: low once established
- Soil: Sandy
- Hardiness zones: 5-9
- Bee Friendly
- Attracts Butterflies
- Deer and Rabbit Resistant
Folgate Lavender
Royal Velvet Lavender
Royal Velvet is rich in fragrance and showy in bloom. It is covered with long stemmed, 3-4 inch long, velvety, dark purple-blue flower spikes which are much longer than Hidcote and the hallmark of ‘Royal Velvet’. Tall, waving flower spikes last and last, and will bloom a second time after a mid-season harvest in the right conditions. The flowers hold their dark colour extremely well when dried and makes excellent fresh cut bouquets and perfect for dried wreaths.
Royal velvet lavender
- Sun: Full
- Water: low once established
- Soil: sandy
- Hardiness zones: 5-9
- Bee Friendly
- Attracts Butterflies
- Deer and Rabbit Resistant
- Good for cut bouquets
Super Blue Lavender
A new addition to our collection, the fragrant wands of rich lavender-blue flowers deliver a soothing scent in early summer. ‘Super Blue’ produces blooms that are tighter together, delivering more color and fewer airy gaps. A compact and fragrant Lavender plant with short spikes that tops out at 12″, making it a perfect choice for edging walkways and setting into patio containers. The large, full blooms lend themselves to cutting and drying.
- Sun: full
- Water: low once established
- Soil: sandy well draining soil
- Hardiness zones: 5-9
- Bee Friendly
- Attracts Butterflies
- Deer and Rabbit Resistant
- Good in containers, edging pathways and dried buds
Super Blue lavender a new varietal at Serenity Lavender
Melissa Lavender
Lavandula ‘Melissa’ is a lovely lavender that was named by Oregon grower Andy van Hevelingen for his wife Melissa. A prolific bloomer with aromatic foliage that perfumes the garden when brushed against. Soft romantic pale lilac blooms offset the fine silvery green foliage. On mass the flowers appear white from a distance. Very prolific it has a nice upright and compact habit. The flowers are very sweetly fragrant and persist for a long time.
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Lavandula Melissa
Sun: full
- Water: low once established
- Soil: sandy well draining soil
- Hardiness zones: 5-9
- Bee Friendly
- Attracts Butterflies
- Deer and Rabbit Resistant
- Good for culinary and fresh bouquets
Hidcote Lavender
An old favourite, the flowers on this plant are the darkest purple of all lavenders. This erect greyish green bush with a splayed or floppy habit grows up to 12- 20 inches tall and approximately 24-30 inches wide depending on soil conditions. The flower stems are short but very aromatic. It is an excellent choice for edging and borders. In the right conditions this plant will bloom continually until the first frost, albeit with a smaller flush of flowers. To enhance blooming, cutting back the stems of faded flowers will enhance a second and third bloom. Hidcote retains it’s colour and is excellent dried and culinary use
- Sun: full
- Water: low once established
- Soil: sandy well draining soil
- Climate: hot summers and warm winters
- Hardiness zones: 5-9
- Bee Friendly
- Attracts Butterflies
- Deer and Rabbit Resistant
- Good as dried buds and culinary with a citrusy note to its flavour
The darkest of lavenders
If you are interested in purchasing lavender plants, our plant Sale begins May 1st, 2021. All varietals are currently available except Hidcote. Call 519 738-6111 to reserve your plants for curbside pickup.
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Cheryl
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What lavender is best for pots on a 10th floor balcony? Thanks
webedit
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We have a variety that will do well. It’s more compact and is very fragrant and has violet blue flowers. It is the Super Blue. If you would like to have some set aside we can do so. Give us a call at 519 738-6111. Our garden centre will be open this weekend if you want to take a drive out.
Suzanne