Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  English Lavender, Common Lavender

Description:

This dwarf variety is small enough to fit into a rock garden, perfect for edging perennial borders or herb gardens; develops a dense silvery mound of gray-green foliage, producing volumes of lavender-purple flowers in summer

Ornamental Features

Dwarf Silver Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant lavender flowers with purple overtones rising above the foliage from early to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive fragrant needle-like leaves are grayish green in colour with hints of silver. The foliage often turns coppery-bronze in fall.

Landscape Attributes

Dwarf Silver Lavender is a dense multi-stemmed 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.

Dwarf Silver Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Dwarf Silver Lavender will grow to be only 6 inches tall at maturity extending to 8 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 12 inches. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. Although it's not a true annual, this slow-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. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. 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. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Dwarf Silver Lavender is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.