Plant Care Library

Other Names:  French Lavender, L. stoechas subsp. pedunculata

Description:

Lovely and aromatic, this early flowering shrub is covered with intensely pink flowers over a long season, contrasted by striking silver-gray foliage; ideal for borders, cottage gardens, and containers

Ornamental Features

The Princess™ Spanish Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant fuchsia flowers with hot pink bracts rising above the foliage from mid spring to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive grayish green foliage with hints of silver. The fragrant needles are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

The Princess™ Spanish Lavender is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, 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.

The Princess™ Spanish Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

The Princess™ Spanish Lavender will grow to be about 16 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This shrub 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. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

The Princess™ Spanish Lavender makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use 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 grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.