There are more than 300 varieties of hardy lavender available today, so it is no surprise that gardeners have a difficult time choosing the right ones for their particular situation and taste. Over the past ten years, we have grown more than 100 varieties at our farm in Fairfield; some do especially well in Adams county’s climate and soils.

Except as otherwise noted, my “Top Ten” list is made up of the L. angustifolia (narrow leaf) species sometimes called English lavender. We have found that the angustifolias are much hardier than the larger-leafed L. x intermedias (also called lavandins); this species, which includes Provence, Grosso, Dutch, and Grapenhall, among others, seems ill-suited for our winters.

Hidcote – A favorite for more than 80 years, Hidcote has superb dark blue blossoms and is the hardiest lavender in our garden. It has a great fragrance and dries well for craft or culinary uses. It grows to 18-20 inches high and wide. Flowers are on 7-8 inch stems. It makes a lovely hedge.

Delphinensis – An angustifolia subspecies, Delphinensis has deep blue flowers on 9-10 inch stems. One of the earliest bloomers, it is excellent for drying. Rarely available.

Croxton’s Wild – Planted in groups of four or five, Croxton’s Wild lends a shimmering light-blue accent to the garden. The blossoms have good fragrance and are excellent cut flowers. However, they are not recommended for drying.

Martha Roderick – This little-known variety is a good choice for container gardening as it grows only about 15 inches high. With strong purple blossoms and greyish leaves, it makes a statement on the patio or porch.

Munstead – Another old favorite, Munstead has medium purple blossoms with a slight pink tint. It dries well and has an excellent aroma. Unfortunately, plants sold as Munstead often are grown from seed. (Lavenders do not always “come true” from seed, so the resulting plants often differ from the original. To ensure you are getting the lavender you want, insist on plants grown from cuttings.)

Spike (L. spicata) - Spike lavender is the only member of the spicata genus; it has proved to be much hardier than the various intermedias we have grown. Spike grows to about 30 inches and has blue flowers on 16-18 inch stems that are ideal for making lavender wands. It blooms in July, about a month later than the other varieties listed here: it often stays in bloom until frost.

Hidcote Giant – All of the beauty of regular Hidcote but on 12-14 inch flower stems. The blossoms are not quite as prolific as some of the other angustifolias and the plant is less compact than its namesake. Good for drying. Hard to find.

Nana Atropurpurea – Nana (dwarf) grows only 12-15 inches high, but makes up for its size with stunning purple blossoms. It is a good plant for containers and also for a low-growing perennial border.

Jean Davis – Growers continue to search for the perfect pink lavender. In the meantime, Jean Davis fills the bill very nicely. Its light pink blossoms are produced on a fairly rounded 20 inch plant. It is a good fresh cut flower, but does not dry well. Sometimes confused with and sold as Rosea.

Madeline Marie, Rebecca Kay, Two Amys – Developed in Adams county, these three varieties all bloom in June and then have superb second blooms beginning in mid-August. Madeline Marie is a medium-sized plant with blue blossoms and grey leaves. Rebecca Kay is a more robust variety growing to 22 inches. It has purple blossoms and grey leaves. Two Amys is the smallest of the three measuring in at 15-16 inches. Its blossoms are blue and its leaves green.

Whatever your variety preference, there are three basic rules for growing lovely lavenders. First, although lavender will do all right with six hours of sun a day, it needs full sun to achieve its true potential. Plant it in as open an area as possible. Second, lavender wants good drainage. If you have poor drainage, try planting it on a somewhat raised (7-10 inches) mound. Finally, lavender needs a pH in the 7.0-7.3 range. Most of our soils are in the 6.0-6.5 range; the pH level can be raised by the application of lime. Test kits to help you determine how much lime is needed are available at most nurseries; they are of varying quality. Soil sample kits available at the Penn State Extension Office will give you a thorough analysis for a very reasonable price.

Like most people, our experience with lavender has largely been with those two old standbys, Munstead and Hidcote.

Last year, in anticipation of lavender being the 1999 Herb of the Year, we planted a lavender demonstration garden. The results are in and we think they’re both interesting and useful.

By way of background, our lavender garden gets a little morning shade, but is in the sun all day after 9 a.m. The soil is well- drained and sandy with a fair number of small rocks. We are in zone 6 and had low temperatures around zero last winter. After Christmas we cut up the tree and covered the plants with the boughs until early March.

One last point — we have been suffering from a considerable drought since the lavenders were planted. For the July 1998-June 1999 year, we should have had a little more than 40 inches of rain. We actually got about 30 inches, a 25 percent deficit. We watered the young plants occasionally in 1998, but did not water them this year.

Lady Lavender: Lady was awarded the All-American Flower Award several years ago, but this was the first time we had grown it. It was the first of the species to bloom (first week of June) and was a delight. The flowers were uniformly good sized with a fairly deep purple color. The blossoms maintained a nice appearance for two weeks (as did all of the others). The plant was about 12 inches high and also 12 inches wide.

Hidcote: Hidcote was the next to bloom at the beginning of the second week of June. It was about the same size as Lady; its blooms were fairly small and tight, but with a deep purple color. We have about 50 Hidcotes planted in the field and they have proved to be very hardy over four winters. Hidcote dries very well in bunches, but the stems are too short and stiff for lavender wands.

Munstead: Our Munstead grew a couple of inches taller and wider than the Hidcote and bloomed about a week later. The blossoms were bigger than the Hidcote, but not as tight, nor as deeply colored. Nonetheless, like the Hidcote it is a good lavender for drying in bunches.

Sawyers: The Sawyers lavender was a very pleasant surprise and we really fell in love with it. Its leaves are definitely gray; not gray-green, but gray; its flowers had excellent color and were on stems nearly a foot long. Great for drying but, again, somewhat too stiff to make into wands. It bloomed on June 11.

Blue Cushion: This is not supposed to be a very big plant and it was definitely the runt of the litter in our trial. It grew to about six inches tall and is six inches in diameter. It bloomed late in the second week of June with a limited number of blossoms on short (3-4 inch) stalks. Blue Cushion has a place at the edge of your garden, but don’t count on it as a cutting plant.

Seal, Seal of Oaks, Spike, and Fat Spike (aka Grosso): I am not a taxonomist, but I still wouldn’t want to live on the differences between these four varieties; they all look pretty much the same to me. This is not to say that I dislike them. On the contrary, they are great plants. All grew nicely mounded about 15 inches in diameter. Then they produced flowers on stems 15-18 inches long. These proved to be great for making lavender wands.

Rosea and Jean Davis: These are both pink lavenders, although I find them to be more white than pink. As in the case of the Seals, Spikes, etc., I have a hard time seeing any difference between them. We have had several around for three or four winters and they are nicely hardy here. Both bloomed in mid-June and were similar to the Munstead in size. They have a good lavender aroma, but their color does not hold up well during drying — they turn brown.

Dutch Lavender: These looked great in early and mid-June, but have been somewhat of a disappointment since they started blooming at the end of the month. Early on, the plants had (and still have) a very nice looking gray color with the main plant area about 14 inches in diameter. However, the flowers, on 16-18 inch stems, are quite disappointing. Not much color or size. They are still blooming in the third week of July. If you grow them, do so for the gray foliage rather than the blossom. (Note: Some customers say they have trouble overwintering them in zone 6.)

French, Fringed, Spanish, and Otto Quast: These are easily confused (and easily confusing) varieties of L. stoechas, L. multifida, and L. dentata. They are all tender and will not tolerate more than a little frost. However, they make great pot plants and seem to bloom almost year ’round. Be sure to keep them pruned back and deadhead the spent flowers. They’ll reward you in February with nice blooms and fragrance.

To make a traditional wand, you need an uneven number of long-stemmed lavenders—usually thirteen or fifteen (for beginners). Place a rubber band around the bunch just below the blossoms. Carefully fold the stems over the blossoms (pinching the stems gently with your fingers or a pair of pliers at that spot first helps stems bend without breaking) and tie a long narrow ribbon (1/4” or 3/8”) over the rubber band.

Weave the ribbon around the bunch over and under the stems eight or ten times until you have completely covered the now-hidden blossoms. Tie off the ribbon and make a bow. The weaving requires a little digital dexterity; a crochet hook or similar device can be helpful. Keep the weave tight as the stems and blossoms will shrink as they dry.

When you have completed your wand, hang it in a warm, dark, dry place (attics are great) for a couple of weeks to dry. Store dried wands in a closed container or plastic bag to retain the aroma.

We travelled to France several years ago (in late June and early July) to see the famous lavender fields of Provence. What a sensory feast! Acres and acres of lavender in bloom! As we came over one hill we saw about 500 acres of lavender in bloom in front of us. After catching her breath, Madeline said, “Imagine Kansas in purple!” There was lavender as far as the eye could see.

We staged our tour from Apt, a city of 50,000 an hour-and-a-half east of Avignon. Peter Mayle, author of A Year In Provence, recommends the Saturday morning market in Apt as one of the best in the region. We spent several hours at the market and heartily agree with him.

There are six blocks of familiar and unknown cheeses, sausages, and breads, fresh cut flowers, superb fruits and vegetables, dozens of kinds of olives, fabric stalls, and antiques. We even found a six-inch-long sickle designed for cutting lavender; it works like a charm! From Apt, it is less than an hour’s drive to the Musée de la Lavande in Coustelet, the Jardin des Lavandes in Sault, and the thousands of acres of lavender between Sault and Ferrassières.

Most of the lavender grown in France is distilled into oils; not surprisingly, the Musée de la Lavande is focused on oil distillation and the stills used in the process. In addition, the museum features an excellent slide show (in English) on the history of lavender culture in France.

At the Jardin des Lavandes in Sault, Catherine Couttolenc gives a wonderful lively presentation on lavender in English. Her garden, with some 15 or 20 species of lavender, included a dozen L. angustifolia and L. x. intermedia varieties we had not
seen before. We were able to bring three of these (Rêve de Jean-Claude, Lumière des Alpes, and Bleu de Collines) back with us and expect to have limited supplies of them for sale next year.

Mme. Couttolenc was the only person we met who was actively selling lavender plants. Generally, French lavender growers jealously guard their favorite varieties. Our efforts to buy a few pots of the superbly colored “Super Blue” got absolutely nowhere; reactions to our requests varied from “Impossible!” to a stony silence.

From late June through early August, the road from Sault to Ferrassières is one breathtaking view after another; even the most jaded tourist has to be impressed. Take the opportunity to stop along the road and walk through the thyme, oregano, bedstraw, and savory that grow wild there.

For more information about lavender farms, museums, and festivals in France visit www.routes-lavande.com or contact us at info@palavenderfestival.com.