Lavandula angustifolia ‘Royal Velvet’ (Lavender)

The rich, velvety dark navy blue flowers of English Lavender ‘Royal Velvet’ are truly eye-catching. Up to 3-4 in. long (7-10 cm), its flower spikes rise elegantly on long stems and retain their lovely and intense color, making this lavender an excellent choice for cut flowers, whether fresh or dried. Extremely fragrant, Lavandula angustifolia ‘Royal Velvet’ is appreciated by gardeners for its rapid growth, its long-lasting blooms, and its tolerance to wet winters.

• Blooms twice, starting in late spring or early summer. Lavenders blooming twice are known to have a full second flush of blooms after the flowers of the first bloom have been harvested.
• Evergreen in warm winter climates, it grows in a bushy shrub, up to 24-30 in. tall (60-75 cm) and spreads 30-36 in. wide (75-90 cm).
• This Lavender is very versatile and can be used for low hedges, 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.

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