Plant Guide

Other Names:  Egyptian Lavender, California Lavender

Description:

A beautiful and aromatic flowering plant covered with violet-blue flowers through summer; delicate, fine-textured, ferny foliage; excellent choice for low informal hedging, borders and formal gardens; not recommended for culinary use;

Ornamental Features

Fernleaf Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant blue flowers with violet overtones rising above the foliage from late spring to mid fall, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive fragrant ferny pinnately compound leaves emerge light green in spring, turning grayish green in color the rest of the year.

Landscape Attributes

Fernleaf Lavender is a dense herbaceous annual with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and can be pruned at anytime. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Fernleaf Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Fernleaf Lavender will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity extending to 3 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 24 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. This species is not originally from North America.

Fernleaf Lavender is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.