Lavender plants
Lavender has been a favourite of English gardens for centuries, prized for its rich, fragrant flowers and aromatic foliage. The distinctive purple, pink or white flowers are produced on long stalks above a compact mass of grey-green leaves between July and September. Their strong, sweet scent is used to make pot-pourri and they can be cut in bunches and hung on doors or walls to bring the beautiful fragrance into other parts of your home. Best grown basked in full sun in a free-draining, gritty soil, lavender is perfect to provide edging or a low hedge around paths and borders. They also work well in containers on the patio or next to doors and entrances where their flowers and scent can be fully appreciated. The two most common types of lavender are English lavender (Lavender angustifolia) which are tough and hardy plants and secondly French and tender lavenders (including Lavender Stoechas varieties) which should be protected from the frost to over-winter. Prune lavender plants annually to keep them compact. Do not feed – they prefer a soil that is low in nutrients.