Lavandula angustifolia 'Dwarf Blue' (English Lavender)
Compact Fragrant Evergreen Shrub with Outstanding Blue Flowers
Transform your garden with Lavandula angustifolia 'Dwarf Blue', a superb compact English lavender that delivers exceptional fragrance and beautiful blue flowers throughout summer. This outstanding evergreen shrub produces dense spikes of bright blue-violet flowers above aromatic silver-grey foliage, creating a perfect combination of colour, scent, and pollinator value that makes it ideal for borders, containers, and herb gardens whilst providing months of continuous display.
Key Features
- Plant Type: Hardy evergreen aromatic shrub
- Height: 30cm Spread: 40cm
- Flowering Period: July to August
- Flower Size: Dense spikes of small tubular flowers
- Flower Colour: Bright blue-violet
- Fragrance: Classic lavender scent in flowers and foliage
- Hardiness: Hardy in the UK down to temperatures of -15 to -10 degrees Celcius (RHS hardiness rating H5)
- Growth Habit: Compact, bushy, naturally rounded
Perfect Compact Proportions
'Dwarf Blue' is specifically bred for its compact, neat habit, making it perfect for smaller gardens and precise garden design. The naturally rounded growth creates a perfectly proportioned cushion shape that requires minimal maintenance whilst providing maximum impact. This compact size makes it ideal for border edging, container growing, and formal garden designs where precise proportions are valued.
Exceptional Fragrance Performance
Both the flowers and silver-grey foliage are intensely fragrant, releasing the classic lavender scent that has made this herb beloved for centuries. The aromatic qualities are particularly pronounced when the foliage is brushed or crushed, making it perfect for planting alongside pathways, seating areas, or entrance gardens where the delightful scent can be fully appreciated.
Outstanding Pollinator Magnet
The bright blue-violet flower spikes are highly attractive to bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects, making this variety an excellent choice for wildlife-friendly gardens. The long flowering period from July through August provides a valuable nectar source during the peak summer months when pollinators are most active.
Uniform Growth and Flowering
This variety is renowned for its consistent performance, offering uniform growth and flowering that makes it particularly valuable for formal plantings and edging applications. The reliable habit ensures predictable results, making it ideal for gardeners seeking consistent performance across multiple plants.
Excellent Cut Flower and Dried Flower Performance
The fragrant flower spikes are perfect for cutting, providing valuable material for fresh arrangements and potpourri throughout the flowering season. The flowers dry beautifully, retaining their colour and fragrance for months, making them ideal for dried flower crafts and home fragrance applications.
Superior Container Performance
The compact habit and drought tolerance make 'Dwarf Blue' exceptional for container growing on patios, balconies, and in courtyard gardens. The evergreen nature provides year-round structure and interest, whilst the summer flowering adds seasonal colour and fragrance to container displays.
Growing Requirements
- Soil and Position: Thrives in full sun in well-drained soil. Performs best in a warm, sheltered position with excellent drainage. Tolerates poor soils but struggles in heavy clay or waterlogged conditions. The Mediterranean origins make it particularly suitable for hot, dry locations.
- Light Requirements: Requires full sun for optimal flowering and fragrance production. The more sun it receives, the more intense the flower colour and fragrance will be. Partial shade will reduce flowering performance and may lead to leggy growth.
- Soil Preferences: Prefers alkaline to neutral, well-drained soil with good drainage being absolutely essential. Thrives in sandy or gravelly soils and tolerates drought conditions once established. Adding grit or gravel to heavy soils will improve drainage and plant performance.
Care and Maintenance
- Pruning Requirements: Prune hard back to maintain shape in spring, cutting back to about 15cm above ground level. Deadhead regularly during summer to extend flowering period and encourage further blooms. Light pruning after flowering helps maintain compact shape.
- Watering Requirements: Very drought tolerant once established. Water regularly during establishment but avoid overwatering, which can lead to root rot. In containers, allow soil to dry slightly between waterings.
- Fertilising Programme: Generally requires little feeding. A light application of balanced fertiliser in spring is sufficient, though excessive feeding can reduce flowering and fragrance intensity. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilisers which promote leafy growth at the expense of flowers.
Design Applications
- Border Edging: Perfect for creating fragrant borders and pathway edges where the compact habit and continuous flowering provide structure and seasonal interest. The uniform growth makes it ideal for formal edging applications.
- Herb Gardens: Essential for traditional herb gardens where the culinary and aromatic qualities can be fully utilised. The compact size makes it suitable for small herb garden spaces whilst providing classic lavender fragrance.
- Container Gardens: Excellent for patio containers, window boxes, and balcony displays where the evergreen structure and summer flowering provide year-round interest. The compact size makes it suitable for smaller containers.
- Mediterranean Gardens: Ideal for creating Mediterranean-style gardens where the drought tolerance and aromatic qualities complement other sun-loving plants. The silver-grey foliage provides excellent textural contrast.
Seasonal Interest
- Spring Growth: The silver-grey aromatic foliage provides early season structure and interest, with new growth emerging from the compact framework established by spring pruning.
- Summer Spectacle: From June through August, the plant produces abundant spikes of bright blue-violet flowers that create a stunning display against the silver-grey foliage whilst filling the garden with classic lavender fragrance.
- Autumn Persistence: The evergreen foliage continues to provide structure and aromatic interest throughout autumn, with spent flower spikes adding textural interest if left for winter wildlife value.
- Winter Structure: The compact evergreen habit provides valuable winter structure and interest, particularly effective in container displays and formal garden designs where year-round presence is valued.
Culinary and Craft Uses
The flowers and foliage are perfect for culinary use, providing the classic lavender flavour for baking, teas, and culinary preparations. The dried flowers are excellent for potpourri, sachets, and home fragrance applications, whilst the fresh flowers make beautiful additions to summer bouquets.
Drought Tolerance and Low Maintenance
Once established, 'Dwarf Blue' is extremely drought tolerant and requires minimal maintenance, making it perfect for low-maintenance gardens and challenging growing conditions. The Mediterranean origins ensure excellent performance in hot, dry summers with minimal watering requirements.
Mature Size Expectations
The plant reaches its mature size of approximately 45cm in height and spread within 2-3 years. The compact, naturally rounded habit develops without intervention, making it ideal for precise garden design and formal applications where consistent sizing is important.
Why Choose 'Dwarf Blue'?
Lavandula angustifolia 'Dwarf Blue' represents the perfect combination of classic lavender fragrance, beautiful blue flowers, and compact garden-friendly proportions. The exceptional pollinator value, combined with outstanding drought tolerance and versatile growing applications, creates a plant that provides maximum impact with minimal maintenance requirements.
This outstanding variety offers exceptional value for gardeners seeking classic lavender performance in a compact, manageable size. Whether used for border edging, container growing, or herb gardens, 'Dwarf Blue' provides the perfect balance of fragrance, colour, wildlife value, and garden reliability that makes it an essential addition to any garden seeking truly authentic lavender character with modern garden-friendly proportions.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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