diggingthedirt - While I'm trying to find the name of our MA lavender Nursery where you might go and/or ask your questions of, your might want to check this link:
http://www.herbcompanion.com/articles/06_07_04-lavender.
FOUNDIT. The Cape Cod Lavender Farm, Harwich, MA.
I'm certain they'd be thrilled to help you.
Best,
PP

Nan, I'd love to hear about the types of lavender you have growing. I wanted to plant some but it became quite confusing...

Pennypacker, thank you for the links. Harwich is not too far from me, that would be a great way to spend an afternoon.

Greening - I've pretty much tried every variety that I've ever seen for sale. I'm *far* from a lavender expert, though, I just grow a lot of it! My downfall is lack of record-keeping and losing track of which one is which.

I DO have good luck keeping lots of hardy varieties going over the years, mostly by planting high for good drainage and never cutting the plants back in Fall; they are subshrubs and do better if cut back in spring after new growth is seen.

My overwintering techniques for tender plants is pathetic, however. In the house, they're dead by Christmas. In the frigid garage, it's a slightly slower process, but I rarely manage to get anything out there to really recover and do well.

For quick blooms, I think people recommend "Lady" but I didn't have much luck overwintering that one - I grew a flat of it from seed a few years ago, but there are none left unless I've gotten the plants confused. I've got lots of the old standards like Grosso, Hidcote, and Munstead, and several less common ones.

The Spanish L. stoechas, which apparently are now often called French because they've naturalized in France, have frilly flowers instead of the usual smoother spikes. They are not, as far as I know, hardy even here in my zone 6 or 7 garden.

I guess it's time for a book on Lavenders. There are a couple on the site that Pennypacker provided.

Here is a link that might be useful: PP's link

Nan: My copy is buried for specifics, but try "Lavender, Sweet Lavender" as a reference. Also check out the University of Deleware website. Prof. Art Tucker has done some wonderful work.

The "Spanish" vs. "French" thing is becoming increasingly confusing. Some sites refer to "French" as anything with dentate (ridged) foliage, but they don't count L. multifida as "French." Others refer to most L.x intermedia (Grosso, Dutch Mill, Provence, etc.) as "French" because of their usefulness in the fragrance trade out of France and referred to foliage habits rather than flowering. I was taught (decades ago) that "Spanish" were a very specific varity of L. stoechas that had more flair in bloom.

All that said, it's why I stick to Latin most of the time.

For Nan's sake I tried to get in touch with Rick at Logee's yesterday to see what species was hardy. No luck talking (550 boxes being shipped), but will try again today.

Martie

Wow. Well, at least now I feel okay being confused. *G* All those pictures are making me want lavender even more. My tiny garden is running out (okay, who am I kidding, it HAS run out) of "full sun" spots, but there's always large containers, right? :-)

You're right, Greening, containers are great for lavender. Not only do they give you more space and more access to sun, you can provide really good drainage that way.

I can second the hardiness of Munstead. I have been growing it successfully up here for the past couple of years with winter temps down to -16F/-27C. The plants went into the ground in the summer of '04 and looked very nice this past summer. It is not that tall, and I use it as a border plant. But, it survives snow cover/no snow cover and my gardening style, which is pretty much plant and neglect.

If the plants die this winter, I will print out this post, glue it to a tire-changing rod, and beat myself upside the head with same.

narcnh

narch -- Your head will probably be safe. LOL Munstead is amongst the hardiest and least finicky Lavandula angustifolia. In fact, if you let it reseed you'll end up with some pretty amazing cousins of the original plant.

As for container lavs -- cram them in. If you want them in a "big" pot throw in some Rosa chinensis or thymes or drought-tolerant annuals. Because lavenders are short-rooted shrubs (remember their native habitat are rocky/sandy cliffs along the Med.) they won't tolerate much moisture and the other plants serve the purpose of keeping the lav roots on the dry side. Or, downsize the pot; ie., a typical 12" plant would want a 8" pot. Put a lav into a 6"er. I had a mature L.xintermedia 'Grosso' at 2' foliage in a 10" pot for years and it was perfectly happy.

Still trying to find out the lav Nan was wondering about ....

Martie