Digging deeperPlant Library

Silver Edge Lavender foliage

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

Other Names:  English Lavender, Common Lavender

Description:

A beautiful and aromatic flowering shrub covered with an abundance of lavender blooms atop lightly silver-variegated foliage, excellent choice for low informal hedging and in borders and formal gardens

Ornamental Features

Silver Edge Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant lavender flowers rising above the foliage from late spring to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive green foliage edged in silver. The fragrant narrow leaves are highly ornamental and turn coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Silver Edge Lavender is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Silver Edge Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Herb Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Silver Edge Lavender will grow to be about 32 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Silver Edge Lavender makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.