All About Lavender Varieties

With so many lavender varieties to choose from (450 and counting), how do you pick which ones to plant?

Often, this choice is determined by what’s available at your local nursery, which is fine if you are just looking to get a lavender scent, attract pollinators, and add some color and texture to your landscaping. And, of course, the other big factors that determine which varieties to plant are your garden zone, soil, sunlight … the usual stuff.

We chose our plants based on availability, our growing conditions, AND our interests – culinary lavender and good essential oil producers.

Have You Tried Culinary Lavender Yet?

Lavender is showing up on menus and in recipes everywhere. I guess you could say lavender is having its day!! And why not, it’s delicious, and it is an herb after all. (We often think of it as being a flower, but it’s actually a relative of mint, rosemary, and thyme.) Not everyone in my family is a fan, but I love it. My favorites so far are honey lavender ice cream, lavender lemonade, lemon lavender martinis, and of course, Herbs de Provence to season roasted vegetables and meats. I could list more …

How Do You Use Essential Oils?

Just a few drops, and everything feels a little bit calmer.

I find that essential oils have become my new preferred way to add fragrance to our home. I can no longer tolerate heavily scented candles or synthetic air fresheners. I like the subtle, light, clean fragrance of natural lavender essential oil.

I have two new favorite ways I like to use essential oil – wearing it on diffuser jewelry, like lava beaded bracelets. The gentle scent of lavender helps me feel calm and grounded, and in moments of stress, it helps me to catch the scent of my bracelet. I also like adding a few drops of lavender essential oil diluted in water in a wax burner. I’ve noticed a shift in our family’s interactions with one another when I have this simmering — we are less stressed and more relaxed. In fact, a few studies have tested and proven this observation.

Our Lavender Varieties

So, with these two interests in mind, here’s what we’ve planted so far …

Royal Velvet: This stunner is a small to medium-sized plant and is considered to be one of the best Lavandula angustifolias. It puts on a real show with an abundance of deep purple flowers, and it smells so, so good. It is excellent for both culinary and oil uses.

Hidcote: This little lovely is compact, and has the most intense purple flowers. We planted it for culinary use, but it is very pretty in dried bouquets, too.

Folgate: This hardy, medium variety produces iridescent violet-blue flowers and narrow, gray-green foliage. It has a sweet scent, making it great for oil. It’s good for culinary uses, too.

Melissa: This charming plant produces white flowers with a blush of pink. It was named after the grower’s wife, and we were fortunate to hear him speak at this year’s United States Lavender Conference, organized by the U.S. Lavender Growers Association. We grow it for culinary uses.

Grosso: This bold one is the largest of our plants — three feet tall at full maturity. Its foliage is more silvery than our other plants, and it produces a nice purple flower. It is used most often for oil but would make a pretty hedge if planted closer together.

Sachet: The dark purple flowers and lovely sweet fragrance make this a memorable variety. It’s smaller at only 18-24 inches. It is excellent for culinary, and because of its rich color, as dried flowers.

All of these varieties have done well in our high desert, zone 6a climate. This past winter, we were fortunate to get a thick blanket of snow before the temperatures dropped well below our zone 6a rating. We were nervous about what our plants would look like after the harsh winter, but they all came back strong!

Lavender is drought and deer-tolerant – a necessity for surviving in the Methow Valley, and it repels mosquitos. Yay!! Lavender is also a magnet for bees and butterflies, and it is so satisfying to watch them flutter and buzz around the lavender.

There’s a lot of great information out there to research lavender varieties — a great source is Lavender Northwest. I also recommend visiting a lavender farm in your area and talking with the grower.

With love & lavender,