GARDENING Uses for luxurious lavender
GARDEN PLANT AND HEALING HERB WITH ATTRACTIVE FLOWERS AND AROMA
Bandera is another stoechas with great flower power. It is bred to be dense and compact and does not need to be pinched to become bushy. It produces a second flush of flowers and doesn’t need to be dead-headed as the flowers fall off cleanly when they are over.
Another very beautiful mauve perennial that has the same airy beauty as lavender is Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). The Blue Steel variety carries clouds of small lavender-blue flowers above aromatic, silvery foliage. Blue Steel is a summer to autumn flowering perennial that is heat and drought tolerant.
Use lavender as you will; as a hedge, in drifts, against a wall, lining a pathway, or as individual feature plants. Plant in full sun in soil that drains well. It is quite compact in its first year (45 to 60cm high) and then develops into a showy 97cm high plant in its second year. Cut back plants in spring to get strong new growth.
Euphorbia hypericifolia, Breathless, looks like Baby’s breath but is made of sterner stuff. It is a rounded plant covered in a mist of white or pink tinged flowers in summer. Breathless Blush is the first dark-foliaged Euphorbia with red-flushed leaves and pink-flushed flowers. Breathless White is a sturdier plant and has masses of white self-cleaning flowers.
The long-lasting and free flowering plants are heat tolerant across a wide range of conditions and fill in fast, making well rounded plants.