I love all of them. If only I could get them to grow in my garden! My favorite two are 'Munstead' and 'Lady'. Until I can master them in my flower beds, I've switched to growing Nepeta.

Heather

On a recent trip to England, I saw some fabulous lavender farms. My favorite variety for sheer eye-popping color was 'Folgate" but it's not available in the USA. My seceond favorite was 'Imperial Gem". It stays bushy and medium height and has very intense blue-purple flowers. You can mail order it from Digging Dog Nursery in northern California.

Here is a link that might be useful: Digging Dog Nursery

I grow Spanish, Provence and Munstead. I will probably add more varieties since these are doing well.

I just took this photo yesterday of the Spanish, but I have a lot more. It's in full bloom right now.

Cameron

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Here is a link that might be useful: my gardening blog

Gorgeous photo!

In this damp coastal climate where we have more cloudy days than sunny days...my best performer hands down is Grosso. It stays healthy, compact and neat with only deadheading, blooms for a very long time year after year.

I have a cutting of French lavender that I got from a friend's plant. Since it will not survive our winters it will join the brigade of roses that get moved into an unheated garage to sleep.

'Hidcote' is really a very exceptional selection - it is typically a very compact plant or about 16" by 16" and offers some of the deepest coloring of any lavender cultivar. Excellent fragrance. And it is arguably one of the hardiest varieties.

Just wondering but perhaps the straggly appearance was due to either not pruning back annually or providing too much kindness in the way of fertilizers or watering? If lavenders are not sheared tightly in spring as new growth emerges (done twice a years here in a milder climate), they rapidly develop a sprawling, woody habit and lose that compact rounded form.

Lavender really doesn't like acidic soil, which is what most of the east coast has.

Love that red Maple!

Here is Lavender in the desert scene but I wish I knew which variety it is.

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Thanks all...the photo of the lavenders are lovely!! The Hidcote I had were trimmed back each spring/summer just as new growth appeared. No fertilizer. I was thinking of going for Munstead or Grosso, though I think the Hidcote has a more attractive color. I'll probably try 3 new healthy plants of each, planted in a new location and see how it goes. I just need to make sure they are hardy enough to withstand our cold winters...

Shelli

I use a Black & Decker cordless HedgeHog trimmer to trim my lavender back by 1/3 in the fall or February (zone 7) and again after the blooms fade. This keeps the stems flexible and doesn't allow them to thicken up. I didn't trim this past fall or late winter because we were in a drought. They did fine without the trim.

I plant my lavender plants on a little mound (can't see it anymore) to get it up and out of any pooling water. I don't put organic mulch up against lavender. I can't use pea gravel to mulch here (too hot), but I've seen that done in England.

Around here, Spanish lavender blooms first, then Hidcote, then Provence, then Fred Boutin, then Grosso. So, if you want a long bloom display, you could plant all of these to get a sequence of color. The Spanish and Hidcote are smaller than the others. However, the others are best (IMHO) for drying and home usage.

I can't say about your winters. My lavender is in the ground and evergreen year round.

Cameron