Skip to main content

Infuse a fresh fragrance into your garden with these lavender plants

Your guide to selecting the best lavender type for your home garden

When you’re building a garden, one of the first plants that you might gravitate toward is lavender. Besides its gorgeous blooms and calming scent, lavender is also incredibly easy to maintain. Plus, it’s great for attracting pollinators to benefit the rest of your garden. 

But did you know that there are actually different types of lavender plants? In fact, there are four main categories of lavender, and knowing what they are can help you select the right variety for your climate zone. In this guide, we’ll help you learn all about the different types of lavender so you can enjoy sweet, low-maintenance blooms throughout the growing season — or even all year long if you’re lucky! 

Related Videos
Lavender flowers against a pink sky

What is lavender, and how do you care for it?

To start off with, what exactly is lavender? Associated with a relaxing scent and purple blooms, lavender is a hardy perennial herb that comes from the Mediterranean. The Lavandula genus contains about four dozen or so species of flowering plants. The leaves are small and gray-green, and the tubular flowers, often purple, emerge from long stalks. 

Lavender can withstand fairly tough conditions. It can survive in poor soil as long it’s poor soil with good drainage — you can always amend your soil with compost, perlite, and bark to improve its structure. Lavender plants are actually quite drought-tolerant flowers, although you’ll want to water them more your first year of planting them.

Fertilizer isn’t a necessity. In fact, fertilizer that contains too much nitrogen can actually sacrifice flowers for foliage. What lavender does need is full sun to produce its blooms throughout the growing season. After your lavender blooms, you’ll want to cut back a third to a half of its size to keep it from getting too woody. 

Lavender flowers clustered together

Different types of lavender plants

Of course, different lavender varieties may feature varying care requirements. When you’re picking out the perfect lavender plant for your home garden, consider your personal environment to figure out which variety would thrive in it.

English lavender flowers

English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

English lavender isn’t actually from England – most lavender plants are from the Mediterranean. English lavender is probably the most common variety of lavender out there. In terms of fragrance, it’s highly potent, beloved for its gentle and sweet aroma. English lavender can come in a wide range of bloom colors and sizes. You can find it with white, pink, or purple flowers. Though you can find very short or very tall varieties, the stems on English lavender tend to grow between 2 and 3 feet tall. 

Of all the lavender varieties available, English lavender is the hardiest, so it’s the ideal choice for those who live in a cool climate zone. In zones 5 through 8, you can grow English lavender from both seeds and cuttings. English lavender typically blooms from early to midsummer. Traditionally, people use this variety to create lavender products — think teas, oils, potpourri, and more.

Spanish lavender

Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas)

The showiest type of lavender is perhaps the Spanish lavender, which features gorgeous, vibrant flowers with flag-like bracts. If you’re looking for a wide-spreading, low-maintenance plant that packs a lot of visual punch, this is your go-to choice. It’s drought resistant and aggressively puts out seeds — some gardeners even consider it invasive. Another thing to consider is that Spanish lavender isn’t as fragrant as English lavender, which may be a drawback if you’re looking for a calming scent.

Still, it’s easy to grow and share with both seeds and cuttings. Spanish lavender tends to bloom around spring through summer. Great for climate zones 8 and 9, this lavender variety can tolerate warm weather well. While most gardeners keep it as an ornamental plant, some people use Spanish lavender for oil and honey.

Lavandula dentata leaves

French lavender (Lavandula dentata)

French lavender, or fringed lavender, features toothy, gray-green leaves — the foliage is the most distinct part about this plant, as the purple-blue flowers are not particularly significant. Although not as fragrant as English lavender, this lavender variety has a somewhat herbal scent.

If you live in a warm area, it’s a hardy flower. Best grown in climate zones 7 through 9, French lavender blooms from spring to summer and can potentially put out short, rounded flower spikes all year long if temperatures permit. For those who live in cooler areas, this variety can also work as a container plant. While most people don’t really use French lavender for its fragrance or its oil, it can make for lovely cut flowers.

Lavandin in a field

Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia)

Lavandin is actually a hybrid between Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender) and Lavandula latifolia (Portuguese or spike lavender). This lavender type has a very strong fragrance, featuring intense soapy notes that make it popular in the perfume and personal care industries. It tends to be taller than English lavender and features thick stems with grayish-purple flowers.

Lavandin tolerates both low and high temperatures, which makes it suitable for climate zones 5 through 9 — it can withstand cold like English lavender and humid heat like Portuguese lavender. Note that it can only be propagated through cuttings.

Fernleaf lavender

Other lavender varieties

There are plenty of other lavender types out there, but the ones above are the most common. You may come across the Lavandula latifolia (mentioned above), which is the Portuguese or spike lavender characterized by intense menthol notes and high heat tolerance. There’s also the Egyptian or fernleaf lavender (Lavandula multifida) — this pollinator-friendly flower features feathery leaves that can add an interesting texture to any garden in zones 8 through 10.

No matter if you want to make potpourri or simply love vibrant purple blooms in your garden, you’ll have a lot of lavender plants to choose from. With these types of lavender in mind, consider your personal garden conditions and choose a suitable variety for your landscape. With very little maintenance needed from your end, you’ll be able to enjoy fresh blooms before you know it.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Plant these stunning flowering shrubs for a showstopping garden display this spring
5 flowering shrubs you'll love for your outdoor space
White azalea flowers

If you want a garden full of beautiful flowering plants, your first instinct might be to plant flowers, or perhaps even a tree. Gardeners often overlook flowering shrubs, but they can produce some of the most beautiful flowers! They’re easier to plant than a tree, and since all the flowers are on one plant, they're quicker to care for than flowers. Want to add flowering bushes to your yard? Here are our top picks!

Beauty bush
Beauty bush has several names, including Linnaea amabilis, Kolkwitzia amabilis, or simply beauty bush. Native to China, this shrub is popular for being extremely easy to grow. It's tolerant of all soil types, moderately drought tolerant, and grows quickly. The beauty bush earns its name by growing many pale pink, bell-shaped flowers in the spring. This shrub can grow to between 6 and 10 feet tall and wide, but you can also keep it smaller through regular pruning.

Read more
The best little flowers to grow when you’re low on space – plant these this spring
Grow these little flowers for a small but beautiful garden
Forget-me-nots in a cup

Many people dream of large, sprawling gardens bursting with flowers. However, that type of garden isn’t right for everyone. Whether you’re short of space, prefer smaller flowers, or just need some little flowers to mix with your larger ones, we’ve compiled four of the best cute flowers that stay small. Plant these flowers to maximize beauty while minimizing space.

Forget-me-nots
Forget-me-nots, also known as scorpion grass, are sweet little flowers. They’re classically pale blue, but can also be light pink or white. These flowers typically only grow to heights of around 5 inches and can grow in small clumps for a more full appearance. They prefer moist, well-draining soil, but can develop mildew if the soil becomes waterlogged.

Read more
3 incredible reasons why you should be using coffee grounds in your garden
Don't throw out your coffee grounds. Find out if your garden needs them first
A succulent planted in a silver mug next to a pile of coffee grounds and coffee beans with a spoon on top

You might have heard that it's a good idea to use coffee grounds in your garden. It's often touted as a great organic fertilizer, but some gardeners are still skeptical. Should you actually be using coffee grounds in gardens, or does this advice fall a little flat?

As it turns out, it depends on your soil composition and what plants you’re growing. If you're unsure about whether this tip is right for you, don't worry! We'll walk you through when coffee grounds are perfect for your plants and when your ground is better off without the grounds.

Read more