Page 6 - 2018 Sonoma County Gardener's Resource Guide
P. 6

Ah...Lavender.
By Lynn Rossman
What’s not to love? What other plant gives you so many benefits for so little effort. It comes in all kinds of colors. Yes, not just lavender. But also blues and pinks and whites. It is beneficial for so many insects in your garden, not to mention bees and butterflies. And the fragranceis enchanting.
   So, the biggest problem with lavender is what to choose.
First let’s look at the different kinds of lavender. There is the the English Lavender, sometimes called True Lavender. Technically it is Lavandula angustifolia. That is often what people think of when thinking of cottage gardens. It has a soft mild fragrance that everybody really loves.
Then of course there are the French Lavenders, the Lavandula x intermedia. They are actually a cross between two different kinds of lavenders. As crosses, they are sterile. You can’t grow them from seed. But you can grow them from cuttings. It’s not that hard to do.
  The most popular French Lavenders are the varieties “grosso” and “provencal”. That’s because they are very fragrant and make great oil. Interestingly, “grosso” is actually the smaller of the two plants. It is named for the botanist who discovered it, not for its size.
The third most popular lavenders are the Spanish Lavender, Lavandula stoechas. These are the wonderful lavenders with the cute “bunny ears” on top of the flower spike. And the fat little flowers. They too are very fragrant, very very fragrant. Sometimes a little too camphoric for some people’s nose. They make wonderful landscape plants because they are easy to shape or cut back.
 Given all these choices, it depends on what you want to do with them. If you are interested in making pot pouri or oils, really extractions for oils, then your favorite would probably be the French lavenders.
If you like the country garden look, particularly the English country garden,
 then picking one of the Lavandula angustifolia is probably your best choice. Your biggest problem with these is which to choose. The Spanish Lavenders are
the ones I prefer to put in the garden as a shrub or landscape plant. You can trim them, they come back beautifully. You can hedge them, it doesn’t seem to bother them. They often bloom several times during the season.
Lynn Rossman is the owner of Lynn’s Lavender, a certified organic lavender farm at Tanuda Ridge Vineyard. She’s open Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11-4 from spring through fall. 707-874-1060
The next big choices are what colors? You can find varieties in pinks and blues, and white. And even a lavender that is green, Lavender Verdis. So find those nooks and crannies in your garden to tuck in a little English Lavender. Then find a great place in your flower bed for a French Lavender -- be sure to give it room. For the final touch, hedge your path or fence with a Spanish Lavender. Then relax and enjoy the fragrance, the blooms, and the bees and butterflies they bring.
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