English lavender (Lavender angustifolia)
English lavender, also known by the Latin name Lavender angustifolia and formerly Lavender officinalis, is a popular sub-shrub producing beautiful, fabulously fragrant purple flowers, well loved by bees and butterflies. It has a low-growing, bushy habit with a woody, perennial base and herbaceous shoots clothed with narrow, grey-green evergreen foliage topped with the impressive, instantly recognisable flower spikes from June to August. English lavender makes an excellent low hedge, well suited to edging pathways or growing either side of an entrance or doorway where its rich scent can be appreciated as you pass through the garden. It is a cottage garden favourite, popular for skirting herbs beds, vegetable plots or aromatic border edging, yet equally at home in more contemporary and Mediterranean style gardens too. English lavender prefers a dry, poor, gravelly soil. Avoid growing on heavy clay soils or in frost pockets. Regular pruning is important to maintain a compact, tidy growth habit and encourage plenty of flowers on new growth the following year, but avoid pruning hard into old wood as it does not regenerate well from older woody growth.