Lavandula angustifolia ‘Melissa Lilac’ (Lavender)

A wonderful variety of English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)! ‘Melissa Lilac’  features such a soft, powdery color that it looks almost edible, like a lilac marshmallow, when it is in bud! Compact and fragrant, its stunning, large flower spikes and broad silvery-green foliage are a delightful sight in the garden. Perfect lavender for edging paths or borders.

• Blooms once in midsummer. Lavenders blooming once may have a second, smaller flush of flowers during the season and maybe a third one if the flowers are cut soon enough.
• Evergreen in warm winter climates, it typically grows in a compact 24-in. tall (60 cm) bushy mound and spreads about 24-30 in. (60-75 cm).
• This Lavender is very versatile and can be used for perennial borders, rock gardens, or herb gardens. Its fragrant flowers may be dried and used in potpourris. Spectacular effect in mass plantings.
• Thrives in full sun and performs best in dry to medium, poor, light, sandy, and well-drained soils. Excellent drainage and air circulation are essential, specifically in hot, humid climates.
• Drought, deer, rabbit, and dry soil tolerant and a real magnet for bees and butterflies!
• Toxic to dogs, toxic to cats, toxic to horses.
• Trim back in spring to encourage bushier growth. Remove spent blooms to encourage new blooms.

English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), also called True Lavender or Common Lavender is a type of lavender often associated with the famous purple lavender fields of Provence. Despite its common name, it is not native to England, but to the Mediterranean and counts over 40 different cultivars with flower spikes varying from blue-purple, lavender, violet-blue to white-pink. They create drifts of “cool” colors that sway elegantly in the summer breeze atop a beautifully contrasting gray-green to green-purple foliage of narrow leaves. Growing up to 2-3 ft. tall (60-90 cm), this Lavender type is great for formal or informal edging perennial along walkways, raised walls, and borders; also planted in beds, rock gardens, and in mass plantings. This is also the “queen of herbs” for herb gardens.