Plant Database

Other Names:  English Lavender, Richard Grey Lavender

Description:

A beautiful and aromatic flowering shrub covered with volumes of blue-violet blooms through summer, excellent choice for low, informal hedging and in borders and formal gardens; plant near doors and walkways where the lovely scent can be appreciated

Ornamental Features

Richard Gray Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant sky blue flowers with violet overtones rising above the foliage from early to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive silver evergreen foliage. The fragrant needles are highly ornamental and turn coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Richard Gray 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.

Richard Gray Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Richard Gray Lavender will grow to be about 20 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 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.

Richard Gray Lavender makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. 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.