19 Types of Lavender Plants: Best for Your Landscaping Needs

Types of lavender plants are ones that can be as many as hundreds of species, but only a few are commonly grown. However, all the lavender varieties fall into one of these main types – French, English, Spanish, Lavandin, and Portuguese lavender.

Some species are more common than others as they offer more color than their counterparts. Let’s learn more about these varieties and how to grow them.

A Comprehensive List of Types of Lavender Plants

1. Hidcote Giant Lavender

Due to its popularity, Hidcote is a winner of the Award Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society, the popular English lavender is also known as the Lavandula angustifolia. It has beautiful blooms that are an attraction to most gardeners, and it is commonly grown in borders or hedges up to about two feet tall and wide. 

To encourage more blooming, prune it as soon as the blooming season ends for more bloom in the spring, when it would start to produce dark purple flowers with a very strong scent and lasts long.  However, do not cut back the old growth as this may damage the plant. 

When you are growing them remember that they must grow in the Hardiness zones five through nine and don’t forget that you should space them at least 18 to 24 inches. Provide adequate sunlight for at least six hours daily. Keep the soil dry between watering to protect the plant from becoming moldy and losing its fragrance. Water less frequently, only when it’s too dry.

2. Phenomenal Lavender

Phenomenal lavender was discovered by a commercial herb grower in Pennsylvania and withstood cold more than other French hybrid lavenders. It is easy to grow on almost any soil and requires low maintenance. 

Its attractive mounded shape and blooms is one reason whey most gardeners go for it. It is one that thrives in USDA hardiness zones five through nine, and prone to grow in various well-drained, average, low-fertile soils.

This French hybrid is known as the Lavandula stoechas, and it is popular for its cold hardiness tolerance in addition to drought. Grows into a beautiful mounded shape with beautiful purple flowers.

Has fragrant deep green foliage that remains green all year round. This is one that with stunning purple to blue to lilac flowers, it would start an attraction for bees and butterflies.

3. Anouk Lavender

Anouk is a sweet fragrant lavender perfect for perennial beds and containers. They make a perfect focal point in any garden while attracting pollinators. Moreover, it would thrive in USDA hardiness zones seven through nine under full sunlight. Tolerates poor soils that are sandy, dry, and rocky.

The showiest of all the French lavender varieties, as it would have large ears that stand out at the top of the blooms. It also has a silvery green foliage stands out, especially when the flowers bloom. 

Remember that it is perfect for hedges, borders, patios, terraces, or flowerbeds. Attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Prune back after the blooms to encourage sturdy stems in the fall, and make sure you would water less frequently, allowing the soil to dry in between.

Rabbits and deer avoid this plant, making it easy to grow in your summer garden. It is also an excellent plant to grow on the hedges of your garden, as it will protect your vegetable patch from rabbits and deer. 

4. Kew Red Lavender

This lavender is native to North Africa and the Mediterranean region. It is mostly cultivated for its fragrance but not for cooking. The Spanish variety with pineapple-like shaped blooms, and has pink bracts at the top and greenish-silver foliage, but it is not as fragrant as English or French lavender, it is the favorite to honeybees but not to hummingbirds and butterflies.

It would thrive in the sun and in the humid areas of USDA hardiness zones seven through nine.  This is the type that would grow to about two feet tall and wide. The pineapple-shaped blooms are unique and draw the attention of many who choose to add them to their landscape. 

5. Blue Cushion Lavender

Blue cushion lavender is commonly grown for its essential oils used in perfumes. Flowers and foliage are popular additives to potpourris and sachets. You can also use it for culinary purposes. It is one that belong to the Lavandula angustifolia family, and it has gray-green foliage stunning in landscapes or rock gardens. 

This is the shrub that would produce an abundance of pastel purple flowers, it is basically a huge magnet for bees, birds, butterflies, and pollinators. Grow in well-drained soils to avoid root rot, and remember to provide full sunlight for at least six hours daily, as it would thrive in USDA hardiness zones five through nine.

These nectar-rich flowers provide a habitat for birds and make an excellent wildlife hedge. You can also grow it in small gardens as it grows low, spreading up to 18 inches across. 

6. Betty’s Blue Lavender

Betty’s lavender is one of the most commonly grown English lavenders.  It’s best for its beautiful flowers, excellent for both dried and fresh use. These flowers dry well and stay longer than other dark-colored cultivars like London blue and Hidcote.

This is the plant that would produce flowers with a beautiful shade of purple, as it would grow in a dome like shrub. Does well in full sunlight for at least six to eight hours. Prefers well-drained soils to avoid water logging that can kill the roots. Trim the plant back after the first blooms, as well as when you aim to deadhead the flowers, it would encourage a continuous bloom cycle.

7. Impress Purple Lavender

Impress lavender prefers large spaces to thrive due to its massive size. They grow fast, reaching a maximum of 36 inches tall with three to four inches wide. Strongly scented plant of the Lavandin family. Long stems with stunning dark purple flowers, as these would grow to about three to four inches wide.

Provide adequate spacing for proper air circulation for its growth and thrive, prune back after the flowering season to encourage bushier growth. Remove all the spent flowers immediately to encourage more blooming.

They are such beauties when growing in mass plantings or rock gardens. Not only that, but they are easy to care for, requiring simple pruning at the end of the flowering season. 

8. Sensational lavender

Sensational and phenomenal varieties were created by the same breeders and can do well as companion plants. Features silver foliage creating an unbelievable, eye-catching contrast.

These have a compact, dense style with excellent branching, which is why it is best for patio, indoors, or in an outdoor garden, as it would start to produce one or two long-lasting flushes.

These two have foliage contrasting beautifully when grown together because sensational is shorter and phenomenal is longer. Tolerates harsh sunlight, high humidity, and drought, but also keep in mind that it prefers hardiness zones five through nine.

Water them at least once a week, allowing the soil to dry up in between, but it is important to know that you should prune at the end of the flowering season to grow compact. They require minimal care as they tolerate harsh growing conditions making them ideal for plant lovers with a busy life. 

9. Thumbelina Leigh Lavender

Thumbelina Leigh is an English variety with fewer flowers than other lavender types. It is suitable to grow in less formal gardens, containers, and flower beds, because it would produce deep lavender-blue flower spikes twice during the season. 

It is perfect for a border of a small garden. The violet-purple flowers are a beauty in any landscape as they bloom profusely. Keep them blooming even more by deadheading them immediately after the first flowers die. 

10. Ballerina Lavender

Ballerina has received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society for being the best performing and the most beautiful Spanish lavender. When you are planting it remember that it need at least 24 inches of space apart.

A Spanish lavender that has very similar foliage to rosemary with a nice strong aroma, but is also showy captivating display of cone-shaped flowers topped with frilly white bracts. Prune the stems after flowering to keep the plant compact, you may also try to deadhead the spent flowers to encourage more blooms.

Ballerina makes an excellent low-lying hedge with its vibrant color pop for any landscape. It has beautiful multi-colored flowers, especially when growing in mass plantings. The flowers are a magnet to various pollinators.

11. Fathead Lavender

Fathead is a Spanish lavender for small spaces, hanging baskets, or pots. Spanish variety perfect for small gardens or containers, as it has a very aromatic plant attracting various pollinators.

It has the ability to grow in sandy, rocky, and other poor soils, and it is one that would prefer to grow in full sunlight for at least eight hours daily.

The blooms have plump rounded heads with dark purple and fuchsia bracts. The foliage is similar to rosemary and is evergreen. It grows in a nice bushy shape that favors most landscapes. It does not demand much attention as it can survive on less water. 

12. Royal Velvet Lavender

Like its name, the red velvet lavender has a velvety texture that makes it eye-catching and stunning when growing. This unique lavender will thrive in hedges, borders, containers, and flowerbeds. These flowers have a richness of scent that attracts many pollinators. It grows to about two to three feet in height and spread.

English lavender with stunning, soft-hued blooms and velvety texture. As it is significant for having long floral stems that love to wave in the breeze. Four-inch violet and dark blue with velvety speckled spikes, and it is a good attraction to pollinators like butterflies, bees, etc.

Space them at least 30 to 36 inches wide, and make sure that you would grow them in the available type of soil.

13. Super Blue Lavender

Super blue lavender reaches up to 12 inches tall, making it a perfect plant for the patio or pathways. It is tough withstanding drought and cold winters.

English lavender best for small spaces and containers. Flowering happens in May for areas that experience mild summers and winters. Another flush of bloom happens in late summer or fall.

This lavender has a sweet and savory aroma and is perfect for relieving stress. Its pastel purple flowers have a delicate flavor in dishes like ice cream, breakfast muffins, chicken, teas, and cocktails.

Prefers full sunlight for at least six hours and well-drained soils. Provide adequate air circulation by spacing them properly, and water them less frequently to avoid killing the roots, and makes sure you would trim back in spring before the new foliage appears.

14. Lavenite Petite Lavender

This English lavender has an intense perfume fragrance that attracts people and pollinators. It has short stems only grow to about eight inches long. Its evergreen sage-silvery foliage is as aromatic as the flowers. Bushy English lavender with long stems, that would bloom and have flower clusters of about six inches. They are uniquely shaped flower spikes like pom-poms.

To keep it bushy, prune it back at the end of the season in preparation for the new season, prefers dry, light, sandy, well-drained soils.  It is tolerant of deer, rabbits, and drought and has a great attraction to bees, birds, and butterflies.

Trim back the shrub in spring to encourage new bushier growth, Which means that you must remove the spent blooms immediately to encourage new flowers.

15. Grosso Lavender

Grosso is one of the most loved lavenders used in cocktails, desserts, garnishes, or dried ties. This large bush grows up to four inches wide and three inches tall. 

A French hybrid lavender, known as Lavandula stoechas, it is a vigorous growing plant with long spikes of flowers that would start to growing sparsely stems side by side. It blooms throughout the summer months, with the flowers that are bluish-purple spikes. These little flowers are rich in quantity and fragrance.

However, it depends on how much you prune. It has sparse stems that grow side by side, adding a touch of elegance to your garden. For a bushier look, you can trim the plant at the end of the season, so it grows more in the new season. Prune after the flowering season to encourage new growth. Moreover, you can also try to deadhead immediately after flowers die to encourage new blooms.

16. Nana Alba Lavender

Alba lavender is commonly grown in rock gardens, perennial borders, or herb gardens. It originated in the UK and was bred by Charles Musgrave. It grows extra small, as an English lavender but the stems would reach to 12 to 16 inches tall producing little white blooms.

This is a variety that has pure white blooms, that would add a stunning contrast to dark blue or purple varieties, in addition these blooms once in summer or twice if you deadhead.

It is a winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society 2022. It is a unique lavender with pure white blooms, making it stand out. Not many gardeners know about this variety as it is not so common in most gardens.

17. Celestial Star Lavender

A celestial star is a large, open, V-shaped plant that grows very fast. It has green foliage with a greenish-gray look. The stems are long and dark green, sometimes wricking.

Blooming happens from mid-June to mid-July, and this is when the pure white flowers with long, narrow, and loose spikes appear, as they often are used to make a nice bouquet or cut flowers.

This is an English lavender with vibrant white flowers that have green foliage which is best for hedges, the stems on the other hand would grow 28 to 30 inches tall. It is an evergreen shrub that remains so all year round. It grows to form a compact low growing bush best for hedging purposes. You can use it for privacy screens around your home, as it is easy to grow and maintain. 

18. Van Gogh

Van Gogh is an evergreen, aromatic shrub with a fragrant scent that attracts butterflies and bees. It is great for adding to borders and gardens and can be grown in containers.

This is a Spanish lavender with dark foliage but when it is still blooming it would have baby blue and pale violet flowers. Produces baby blue and pale violet flowers crowned with pale white petals, this makes it incredible for ornamental display.

This is one of the Spanish lavenders that produces bright green aromatic foliage with straight edges and densely covered hairs that create a complete covering. It will brighten your landscape with eye-catching summer flowers lasting throughout the season.

19. Little Lottie

The Little Lottie English lavender is a versatile and unique white lavender with a great fragrance and vigor. It is a dwarf lavender that grows up to 10 inches long.

It would start bloom once in early summer and may provide a smaller flush in the fall, and this is one that would be producing uniquely rounded, fluffy-shaped rose pink with creamy white spikes. 

It is an English lavender featuring green-gray foliage, that would start having blooms that are speckled with rose pink and creamy white. Not only that, but it has spectacular blooms that appear in the summer. This is one that would work well in pots, at the front of borders, and as an informal flowering hedge. This dwarf variety is also ideal for small spaces that may need brightening.  

Conclusion

Types of lavender plants are many, as seen from the list above. If you are interested in growing a variety of lavender species, you have a wide range to choose from.

Here are a few pointers to remember.

• Every lavender type has its growing conditions that, when provided, will give you the best results.
• You can grow various lavenders that bloom at different times of the year to keep your landscape bright and beautiful.
• Our best lavender flowers include phenomenal lavender, Anouk, sensational, and Ballerina, which require less watering.

Why not try a few varieties from the list above and let us know how it goes?

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