Lavandula intermedia ‘Phenomenal’

Sheer your plant yearly (cutting back by anywhere from one third to two thirds) just after the blooms finish. This keeps your plants dense and tidy; just as important it also removes the persistent dried flower spikes.

Lavender does not want to be in the shade, where it will survive, but look listless and floppy. This is especially true near the coast.

While it is marginally adaptable to clay soil, lavender prefers rich well drained soils.

This plant does not tolerate hot humid summers.

Mass plant lavender using informal hedges to capture that iconic Mediterranean villa look. Mix with olives, grasses and rosemary.

Aromatic oils from this plant are used in a myriad of ways including lavender teas, candles, and soaps. It is also used in medicine where it relieves anxiety and depression, and also is thought to help with digestion (see link below). You can try lavender flavored ice cream, and it even has a color named after it!

The historic use of this plant is right there in the genus name of lavender, from the latin word lavre or to wash, a hold over from the Roman Empire when lavender was used as a perfumy bath additive. Even more interesting, Egyptians used lavender during mummification to keep their pharos smelling fresh in the afterlife.