Lavender: the importance of buying named cultivars

I love lavender: I'm perfectly happy to dig out self-set seedlings and grow them on, or move them to better positions around the garden: they are usually fairly similar to the parent plants, and if they have managed to germinate and grow in the beds, borders and shingle paths of that particular garden, then they are obviously quite happy with the local growing conditions.

But when planning a new lavender hedge, or a semi-formal edging to a bed, perhaps, then it is important to buy all the plants at the same time.

They don't have to be any particular cultivar, as long as they are all the same, and I say that because I've always been a bit sceptical when people present me with a dozen plants to plant (a phrase which always look wrong: I do wish there was another generic name for "things which will grow in the garden" other than "plants") and proudly say, for example, "Oh, yes, I bought Lavendula "Hidcote" of course," as though that meant something.

I mean, there's nothing that special about the cultivar 'Hidcot' and - cynically - in my experience, plants from nurseries are often wrongly labelled anyway: I can't tell you how often the expensive white Agapanthus has come up blue... especially that time when a rather posh woman (whose name was not, but really ought to have been, Karen) had bought in two dozen of them, had her gardener plant them out for her,  then - some time later -  sacked the gardener and called me in to "fix" the mess he'd made of her design, because half the darned things turned out to be blue. I found the pots... with the labels... they were all labelled "white" so it wasn't the poor man's fault that half of them turned out to be the common blue ones.

But I digress. (No surprise to regular readers!)

So what am I saying?  Lavender is lavender, they're all lovely, and by all means pick one with a "famous name" if you wish, although personally I'd spend more time reading the small print on the label to see if the cultivar in question fits my needs: is it described as "compact" or "early flowering" or "late flowering", or "white", for that matter... although who would want white lavender? It's not white, it's more of a dirty off-white, but that's just my opinion.

Where was I? Oh yes,

When "one" is planting out a hedge, or a long border of lavender, it really is quite important to get plants that match.

Here's why: Exhibit A, m'lud:

What's wrong with that, I hear you ask.

It's a lovely lavender hedge, I hear you say.

And indeed, most of it is flowering, and looks wonderful.

Ah, but look more closely...firstly, at the particular lavender plant which is closest to us:

 Hmmm.

These flowers have finished: they have turned grey, as all the petals have shrivelled up, and are about to drop off.

The bees are no longer interested, they no longer smell as lovely (although I have to say that, in my opinion, the foliage smells just as much as the flowers do...), so this plant is pretty much "over" for the season.

Next in line is this one, which is one of the ones in full, glorious bloom.

Flowers all over, bees and other pollinating flying insects all over it - fabulous!

And the next one...

...is still in bud,

Not a flower to be seen. Just buds.

Now, why is this a problem? 

At present, as your eye travels along the line of this hedge, you get a general impression of "oh look at the lovely lavender hedge" which is fine.

But the one that has finished now needs to be cut back, to slow down the whole "going woody and falling open" phase. So next week, there is going to be a sudden gap in the hedge, where I've cut that particular plant right back.

Then, in a few more weeks, the rest of them will all have finished flowering, except for that one, very late, one. Which will be in full flowers.

At that point, I will cut back the bulk of the hedge, leaving that one plant to flower in solitary splendour, looking odd and out of place. 

So for the rest of this year, this is not going to be a nice, balanced, even, hedge. It's going to be lumpy and bumpy.

Does it matter?

Well, it does, if the Client has planted a row of lavender specifically to be a "hedge", or to edge a border. If symmetry was the aim, then consistency is important.

If you just have a number of lavender plants dotted around in the borders, then it really doesn't matter if they match: in fact, it would be better to have a variety, because then some will flower early, some will flower late, and thus you will have lavender in flower for a longer time.

But if it's a formal or semi-formal hedge or edge... then it's worth paying for a named cultivar.  And - "Top Tip", as one of my former Trainees used to say - it's worth buying a couple of extra plants at the same time, and putting them elsewhere in the garden, in case you later need to fill in a gap. At least you can be sure it will match!

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