Hardiness zones are 5-8; overwinters in warm zones. But, unless you have a really really extreme zone pushing microclimate, I wouldn't be at all hopeful.

The weather in zone 4 has been pretty decent with sun, rain, and some warm temps so far this spring - do you see any signs of life yet?

Lavender is lovely, but the Nepetas give the grey foliage with long lasting lavender-blue flower spikes. Nepetas don't disappoint and don't seem to miss a beat with whatever a Minnesota winter throws at them.

Thanks, Duluthinbloom. Walker's low netpa was actually my first choice, but I couldn't find it anywhere this early in the season--so I got impulsive.

Since I just planted the lavender, I won't know anything until next spring... The only thing that gives me slight hope is that some butterfly bush (which isn't necessarily hardy here either)survived last winter. But it was in a pretty sheltered spot.

I think you're right about not getting my hopes up. Thanks for the straight talk.

I've never had any luck getting any type of lavender to overwinter.

Too bad too, because I love it!

Linda

I have tried to grow lavender every year. I did get one Munstead to over winter this past winter. It doesn't look great though. There is a new one Cynthia Johnson that is claimed to be hardy in MN. It will be available at the Friends plant sale.

I have lavender that overwinters. I am not sure what variety it is. I'm in Winona though. My thyme, sage and parsely generally comes back every year too. Don't lose hope yet!

Lavender is iffy here at best, a mass planting of a non-zone hardy plant is almost always a mistake. Lavenders like to go to bed with dry feet in light soil, nothing heavy. So as you have already done the deed and planted them, I would hope for a dry fall and don't water them late in the season. If you bought them cheap enough and you like the way it looks this summer, you may not mind doing it each spring, I have annual borders that I love.

Good luck and enjoy! Helen.

I had one I started from seed that overwintered several years in Owatonna (down near Rochester) and so far as I know is still going strong. Unfortunately, I don't recall the variety.

My Munstead is on it's 3rd year in my turn-around garden. This winter, it was covered w/ snow most of the time and looks likeit survived this spring, too.
Peggy

I've had had 3 plants of 'Hidcote' come back for 4 years so far, although they've never taken off and gotten very big. I'm in Bloomington--my friend in Belle Plaine has a 'Munstead' that is about 3 feet across after 5 years. It's planted in a somewhat sheltered 'L' between her garage and porch, but it's still very windy out there on the prairie!

Hi MN lavender lovers! I know it's been a few years since the last post, but I'm looking for any updates on your ability to winter lavender outside. I have two lavender outside here in St. Paul, and I'm thinking that if they did not make it, I would replace them with a different variety, any advice?

As you can see, the plants still have last fall's branches. Should I cut them off?

Elliott, I don't see a picture. You've probably done something by now, just seeing this, but my advice would be to wait and see if there's any new growth before pruning. One early pruning tip (before any evident bud growth but after several days of warmer temps and more sun) is to use your thumbnail to scratch off a small bit of bark. If there's green then the branch is living; if not then the chances are it died back. Could still be growth from the roots though in a little longer.

I planted lavender at Owatonna. I had it for three years before moving away and it had done fine up until that point.

I planted three Mumstead Lavendar five years ago. One died the first winter but the other two have come back quite nicely. I'd love to add more to the garden.

For pretty much all practical purposes any urban area in the southern third of Minnesota can now be considered Zone 5. Global warming folks. A fact that is changing what we can grow here in the North Country fair. Also remember that major metros have what is called the "heat island" effect which is generally some 5-10 degrees warmer than in the surrounding country side, especially in winter when everybody is heating their houses and there is some escape.

We are growing lavender in zone 4a - planted spring 2018. I am trialing different techniques for survival this winter. We update info on our blog frequently www.duffymeadows.com

so check back if you see this into the future to find out what we learned

So, DuffyMeadows, it's now spring 2019, though admittedly not far into it. Any signs of life?

In spite of the fact that I'd like to agree with OldDutch that we're all bumped up a full zone number, this past January I recorded -42F in west central MN. Which is like Zone 2 I think (open to correction). It's still going to be always safer to plant at least Zone 3 plants in historical Zone 3, and hope for snow (which we certainly had). I'm totally willing to take risks with smaller perennials. But when it comes to mission-critical trees, not so much.

One of the side effects of global warming are the increasing size and intensity of storm systems, both continental cyclones and hurricanes on the water. The fact that they increasingly feed each other is part of the reason we had so much snow this winter. That certainly was the case this past winter across the continental US. Quite a bit of our foul winter weather this year came across from the Pacific rather than all of it coming down from the Prairie Provinces out of the Arctic. Those make specific forecasts difficult to make very far into the future this far north. We are warmer over winter than we used to be - no question that some things now usually winter over that didn't only a few years ago, but there are still some sudden dips and anomalies just like there always has been in the North country.

Coldest winter temp AVERAGE is quite a bit warmer than it used to be and that is what determines USDA hardiness zones. Also note that nurseries (such as Starks) have moved their hardiness zones for such trees as many of their standard apples in many cases one full zone north. Starks are not alone in this either. See the National Arbor Day Foundation for similar adjustments. Nearly every northern nursery now rates standard Red Delicious as zone 4, same for standard Golden Delicious, both of which were universally zone 5 only a few years back.

IOW the official USDA hardiness zone charts are not being treated as gospel any more by quite a few professional nurseries.