Best Lavender Varieties for Scotland

Lavender is hardier than its Mediterranean look suggests. In Scotland, what usually kills it is wet, heavy soil in winter, not the cold. So the choice comes down to which types are hardy enough for an open border, and which are better in a pot or against a warm wall.

What Scotland means for the choice

The ten RHS award-winning lavenders fall into three hardiness groups, by species rather than by the name on the label. English lavender and the lavandins are H5, hardy to between -15 and -10°C, and can stay out all year in free-drainingSoil that lets water pass through quickly rather than pooling, so roots aren't sitting in wet ground after rain. Full definition → soil. The hybrids Ballerina and Sawyers are H4, hardy to between -10 and -5°C, so through most of the UK but not reliably in cold inland, high or northerly spots. The French types are H3The RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition →, hardy only to between -5 and 1°C, and an ordinary winter can be too cold for them outdoors. Whichever you grow, sharp drainage matters more than the variety. The lavender growing guide covers planting, drainage and pruning.

All ten hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one. Buy by the botanical name on the label, since "French", "Spanish" and "hybrid" are used loosely. Lavender is one of nine plants considered a high-risk host for the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, so the RHS advises caution about imported plants: choose UK-grown stock where you can.

Most lavender is grown on poor, dry or moderately fertile soil, including chalky and alkaline soils. Scottish soil tends to be acid, and French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is recorded as tolerating acid, neutral or alkaline soil as long as it drains well. Its Scottish catch is hardiness: it is the H3 type, so on acid ground it belongs in a pot you can move under cover for winter. For every type, drainage matters more than soil pH.

English lavender: Hidcote, Imperial Gem, Miss Katherine, Beechwood Blue

Hidcote is the most widely stocked, with deep violet-purple flowers on a bushy shrub to about 40cm, and it's suited to open, exposed sites slightly back from the sea. Imperial Gem is a compact 40cm plant with dark violet flowers and a 90cm spread, a tidy choice for edging. Miss Katherine has light pink flowers, highly fragrant and very free-flowering. Beechwood Blue is the smallest, a low 30cm dome with violet-blue spikes for the front of a border or a pot.

Lavandin: Alba and Sussex

These are just as hardy as English lavender but bigger, reaching about a metre, with longer flower spikes that come later in summer. Alba has long spikes of fragrant white flowers. Sussex has dark blue-purple flowers on spikes up to 20cm, in mid and late summer, after most English lavender has finished. Either suits a low hedge or screen.

Ballerina and Sawyers, against a wall

Ballerina is a vigorous hybrid with purple spikes topped by white bracts that turn pink-purple, flowering from late spring through summer on a compact 60cm shrub. Sawyers has silvery-grey foliage with a rich lavender perfume and light purple spikes in midsummer, also about 60cm. At H4, both are safer against a south- or west-facing wall, or in a pot you can move in a hard frost.

Willow Vale and Royal Crown, in pots

Willow Vale has deep violet spikes topped with reddish-purple tufts, the classic "rabbit ears" look, on a 75cm shrub. In colder areas it needs protecting from very low temperatures and winter wet, so grow it in a container kept in an unheated greenhouse over winter. Royal Crown has toothed grey-green leaves and violet-blue tufted spikes; in frost-prone areas grow it in a container brought into a greenhouse or conservatory for winter.

Which one for your situation

• An open border: Hidcote.
• A low hedge, or late flowers: Alba or Sussex.
• Tight edging or a small bed: Imperial Gem or Beechwood Blue.
• Pink flowers: Miss Katherine.
• A coastal garden: Hidcote, slightly back from the sea.
• A sheltered, sunny wall: Ballerina or Sawyers.
• Rabbit-ear flowers, with somewhere to overwinterKeeping a plant alive and intact through the cold months, whether left outdoors, moved under cover, or stored dormant. Full definition → them: Willow Vale or Royal Crown.

Wet, heavy soil leads to root rot, the biggest threat to lavender here, so dig grit into the planting hole or plant on a mound.

Rosemary beetle and leafhoppers can nibble or mottle the leaves, but rarely harm the plant.

Common questions

Sources