How to Grow Lavender

Lavender is a wonderfully aromatic shrub that's a staple of kitchen gardens and cottage garden borders. Drought-tolerant and beloved by pollinators, it flowers throughout the summer, and its evergreen foliage adds structure to beds during the rest of the year.

Lavender is one of the most popular plants in UK gardens. It's low maintenance and blooms prolifically during the summer months, attracting bees and other pollinators. Lavender has many culinary and herbal uses, but most people grow it to enjoy the beautiful, fragrant flowers in their garden.

There are three main types of lavender grown in the UK. English lavender (lavandula angustifolia) is the most common, traditional choice. It's the best type of lavender for culinary uses and essential oils. English lavender flowers from the beginning of June with classic, slim flowerheads.

Dutch lavender (Lavandula × intermedia), also known as lavandin, is a hybrid that flowers a little later. It's very popular with pollinators and has taller stems with thick flowers that produce a camphor-like scent.

Lavandula stoechas has very different flowerheads to English lavender, and has been the cause of much internet controversy around naming conventions. It originates in Spain and is commonly referred to as Spanish lavender everywhere other than the UK, where most people call it French lavender (most likely because things have always been done that way and we don't like change). Actual French lavender, Lavandula dentata, is not commonly grown in the UK.

 

Where to plant lavender

Lavender needs lots of sun and well-drained soil to thrive. It loves chalky, alkaline soils and dry conditions. You may be able to grow lavender in light clay soil if it has good drainage and you mix in some sand, but if you have heavy clay or acidic soil, you're best off growing lavender in pots. Avoid planting lavender in shade; the plants will just get leggy and weak. 

Lavandula stoechas tolerates slightly acidic soil, but as it's not fully hardy in the UK, you'll likely want to plant it in pots, which you can move into a greenhouse or other frost-free location over winter. If you do want to grow it in the ground, choose a sheltered spot and make sure the soil is free draining.

Depending on the size of your garden, you may have space for a single lavender bush or a full lavender hedge. Lavender is a fabulous edging plant, particularly alongside paths, where you can enjoy the wonderful scent as you brush past the flowers. As an evergreen shrub, it can form the backbone of a Mediterranean garden or a herb garden, and it's often planted with rosemary to give year round interest to a kitchen garden bed.

Lavender is easy to grow in pots or raised beds, as long as you ensure there's sufficient drainage. English lavender is drought tolerant and can cope with exposed conditions, making it a great plant to grow on balconies.

 

When to plant lavender bushes

Mid-late spring is the best time to plant lavender, once the soil warms up. If you live in a cold part of the country, don't be afraid to wait until the end of May or the beginning of June. Even hardy lavenders dislike cold, wet conditions, so it's better to plant lavender at the start of the growing season so it can establish itself during the summer months. Avoid planting young lavender plants in late autumn or winter, as the young roots could rot in wet soil.

 

How to plant lavender

Lavender grows well in poor soils, so unless you have extremely sandy soil, you don't need to mix compost or other organic matter into the soil before planting. If you want to plant lavender in clay soil, mix in some sand or grit and mound the soil up to help water drain away.

Dig a good-sized hole and sprinkle some bonemeal or rootgrow™ at the bottom. Remove your lavender plant from its grower's pot and place it in the hole, making sure the soil level is the same as in the original pot. Firm it in gently and water it well.

Lavender looks wonderful when planted in groups. Space plants according to their mature spread – this may be up to 90 cm apart. For a lavender hedge, reduce the spacing to 30–45cm between plants.

When growing lavender in pots, choose a container with good drainage and mix plenty of grit into your compost. A ratio of 25% grit to 75% peat-free compost is ideal. Plant your lavender bush at the same level as the pot it came in and gently firm the compost around it. Give it a good soaking, but let the top layer of soil dry out before watering it again.

 

How to care for lavender

New plants need regular watering through their first summer, but after that, lavender needs little to no watering. Lavender prefers poor soil and doesn't require additional fertiliser. Lavender plants grown in pots will need more regular watering, but don't overwater them.

Lavandula angustifolia and Lavendula x intermedia (English and hybrid lavenders) are fully hardy and don't require winter protection. Lavandula stoechas is less hardy, and a damp, cool winter may kill it off if it's planted outside. You can cover plants with horticultural fleece on cool nights but there's not much you can do to protect plants if the weather is very wet.

Lavender plants in pots are more susceptible to the cold. Ideally, move less hardy varieties into a frost-free greenhouse or cool conservatory over winter. If keeping them outdoors, move the containers to a sheltered spot and raise them up on bricks or pot feet to allow water to drain from the pots. Positioning pots on the lee side of a wall, where they're in the rain shadow, can help keep them as dry as possible.

How to prune lavender

Pruning lavender annually helps prevent plants from getting leggy. Carry out lavender pruning when flowering has finished in August. Remove the flower stalks and cut back the foliage to create a neat mound. Don't be afraid to trim back lavender hard: as long as there is some growth below your cutting point, the plant will send up fresh shoots before the winter – this is why you don't want to prune it later than early September.

You can also prune lavender in spring, but it's best to focus on removing scraggly growth and giving it a light trim to tidy it up, rather than pruning it hard.

It's hard to renovate leggy lavender bushes, as lavender struggles to regenerate from old wood. You can cut stems back hard as long as there are buds on the old wood. If you have long woody stems with no buds, then your best bet is to replace the plant, but you can always have a go at pruning it back and see if it survives!

 

How to propagate lavender

You can grow lavender from seed, but the seeds take a long time to germinate and sometimes have a low success rate. The easiest way to propagate lavender is by taking cuttings. This is a fast, easy way to boost your stock and replace older plants.

How to take lavender cuttings

The best way to grow lavender from cuttings is to take semi-ripe cuttings in mid or late summer. Choose a non-flowering shoot and cut a section that includes harder wood from this year's growth at the base. Trim the cutting if necessary, so the base is just below a leaf node, and strip off the lower leaves.

Fill a pot with a mix of grit and cutting compost and slide your cuttings in between the compost and the edge of the pot. Keep your lavender cuttings in a bright place, out of direct sunlight. You can either cover the pot with a plastic bag or mist the cuttings regularly, but don't let them get too wet. Once you see fresh growth, you'll know the cuttings have rooted and you can move them into individual pots. Keep the young plants inside over the winter and plant them out the following spring.

 

Common problems

As long as you plant lavender in the right conditions and prune it every year, you're unlikely to run into any problems. Wet soil or overwatering can cause leaves to droop or turn brown, and a lack of sun can result in poor flowering and plants becoming leggy.

There are a few pests that feed on lavender, including rosemary beetles and sage and Ligurian leafhoppers, but these typically only cause mild cosmetic damage to plants. You may also see cuckoo spit on plants. This is a harmless frothy white liquid secreted by froghopper bugs.

 

Our favourite lavender varieties

Lavender 'Hidcote' is one of the most popular English lavenders. Its dense, upright form makes it an ideal choice for a lavender hedge. Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' produces fragrant, deep purple flowers from June to September.

Lavandula stoechas (Spanish/French lavender or butterfly lavender) has attractive flowerheads with dark purple bases topped by fluttery violet wing-like bracts. It hates wet feet and is best grown in pots, which can be brought inside during the winter.

Lavender 'Munstead' is another commonly grown English lavender. It's more compact than 'Hidcote', with a more relaxed, rounded shape and smaller flowers.

Lavender 'Rosea' is a beautiful pink lavender that looks wonderful grown en masse or interspersed with purple varieties. The rose-pink flowers bloom from June to September.

Lavender 'Arctic Snow' is a compact English white lavender that produces spikes of pure white flowers above grey-green foliage.

 

FAQ

Is lavender safe for dogs?

Lavender is not listed in the Horticultural Trades Association's Guide to Potentially Harmful Plants and it's not considered toxic to dogs. 

Is lavender safe for cats?

Lavender oil is toxic to cats, as it contains concentrated compounds that cats are sensitive to. However, lavender plants aren't listed in the Horticultural Trades Association's Guide to Potentially Harmful Plants, meaning they're generally safe to grow around cats. If you believe your cat has ingested a significant amount of lavender and is uncomfortable, contact your vet for advice.

When do I trim lavender?

The best time to cut back lavender is in August or early September, after it's finished flowering.

When do lavender plants flower?

Lavender flowers in summer. Lavandula stoechas flowers as early as May and you may have flushes of flowers all the way through the summer months. Most cultivars of Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender) begin flowering in June and flower for 3–4 weeks.

How do you prune a lavender plant?

You can prune lavender hard when cutting back in late summer. Remove all the flower stalks and the top part of the foliage to leave a neat mound. Don't remove all the leaves; you need to leave some foliage and buds for the plant to grow new shoots.

Can lavender grow in shade?

Lavender is a sun-loving plant. It needs at least 6 hours of direct sunlight a day, and ideally more than this. If you try to grow lavender in shaded areas, you'll end up with weak, leggy plants that fail to flower.