Which Lavender Is Right For Me?

Are you looking to add lavender to your growing program? With several varieties to pick from, choosing the one best suited to your needs will help your commercial greenhouse profit from lavender and offer exceptional plants to your customers!

As you choose one or more lavender varieties to grow, consider the end use of the herb and the temperature of your environment. Your customers may want to grow lavender to extract oil, for drying to use in sachets and potpourri, for culinary use, or to attract pollinators to a landscape. You can provide lavenders suited to each of these needs or hone in on what will be most desirable in your area. 

Some lavenders flourish in heat, while others withstand cold winter temperatures, so you’ll also want to note which plants will perform best in your greenhouse and for the customers in your local area. 

Angustifolia Munstead offers a traditional lavender fragrance and flower and has good heat and drought tolerance. It is perennial to zone 5 and brings versatility to your customers as a good variety for drying, extracting oil, using in cooking, and adding value to any landscape.

Angustifolia Sensational is a French lavender cultivar well-suited to cut bouquets and drying for use in sachets and medicinal applications. Like Munstead, it is perennial and cold-hardy to zone 5, with some drought tolerance. If you’re growing in a dry, hot climate, Munstead may be a better choice. 

Primarily prized for its ornamental value, Bucii Pinnata Lavender brings a whimsical touch to the landscape with long spikes and swaying purple flowers. It doesn’t tolerate frost and is perennial only in zone 10-11. Choose this as a unique addition to dry gardens in warm climates.

Lavender Grosso offers large crops of profuse purple-blue flowers well-suited to drying and culinary use. It is perennial in zone 6-10 but can’t withstand the humid heat of the southeast in zone 10. 

An improved traditional English lavender, Hidcote Blue offers tall upright plants with fragrant blooms that are useful in culinary and drying applications. This variety offers drought tolerance and cold hardiness in zone 4-10. 

Hybrid Goodwin Creek offers exceptional heat, sun, and drought tolerance, flourishing in zones 7-9. It is well-suited to rock gardens and sunny landscapes and is primarily good for ornamental use while also providing a pleasant fragrance in the garden. 

Intermedia Phenomenal is a hybrid French lavender with tall foliage and attractive, fragrant flower spikes. It resists disease and offers superior humidity and moisture tolerance to the other lavender varieties. This variety is attractive in the landscape and useful for culinary, drying, and medicinal applications.

The classic French Lavender Provence excels in any dry, sunny landscape and makes excellent dried flowers for sachets. It is heat tolerant in dry climates and cold-hardy to zone 5. 

Overall, if you are looking for the most cold-hardy lavender with culinary and aromatic use, try growing  Hidcote Blue. In hot, humid climates, Intermedia Phenomenal excels in moist conditions and still offers cold-hardiness to zone 5. Angustifolia Munstead brings the most versatility of use, while Goodwin Creek and Bucii Pinnata are excellent choices for ornamental landscape use. 

Whichever lavender you choose to grow, your customers will love its many benefits in the home and garden. Please reach out to us with any questions about which lavender variety is best for your business and customer or how to succeed with lavender in your commercial greenhouse!