Lavender
Lavandula angustifolia
📖 About this plant
An aromatic, drought-tolerant subshrub prized for its fragrant silver-gray foliage and spikes of purple, blue, pink, or white flowers. Lavender is one of the most versatile garden plants, valued for its ornamental beauty, culinary uses, essential oil production, and medicinal properties. It thrives in hot, dry conditions and poor soil, making it ideal for Mediterranean-style gardens, borders, and container plantings.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
Full sun (6-8 hrs)
Every 1-2 weeks
Low (30-50%)
15-30°C
Well-draining, sandy or gravelly loam; pH 6.5-7.5 (alkaline preferred). Excellent drainage is critical — lavender will not tolerate wet feet or heavy clay
Minimal — lavender is a light feeder. A thin layer of compost in spring is sufficient; avoid chemical fertilizers which promote leggy, fragility-prone growth
🌐 Common Names
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- Mediterranean region (southern Europe, northern Africa)
- 📏 Max height
- 30-60 cm (English lavender); up to 90 cm for lavandin hybrids
- 📐 Spread
- 30-60 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Summer
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Purple, Blue
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Silver-Green
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Moderate
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Non-toxic to humans; mildly toxic to dogs and cats if ingested in large quantities (essential oil compounds can cause nausea and lethargy). Lavender oil should not be ingested by pets
- 🌱 Propagation
- Take semi-hardwood cuttings 5-10 cm long in late summer; remove lower leaves and root in sandy medium (3-4 weeks); layer low branches in spring; seed germination is slow and erratic
🛡️ Health & Safety
Non-toxic to humans; mildly toxic to dogs and cats if ingested in large quantities (essential oil compounds can cause nausea and lethargy). Lavender oil should not be ingested by pets
Common issues
- Root rot from poorly drained soil or overwatering
- Sudden death from wet winter conditions
- Woolly aphid and spittlebug infestations
- Woodiness and dieback of older plants — prune annually
💡 Care tips
- Requires excellent drainage and slightly alkaline soil
- Prune after flowering to maintain compact shape
- Drought-tolerant once established in the ground
- Harvest flowers just as buds begin to open
