Lavender is a must-have plant for me! I tried growing lavender 'Hidcote", 'Munstead' and 'Augustifolia' at various locations on my windy hilltop before finding 'Grosso', a French cultivar used for its fragrance in perfumes, etc. Sadly, in open, sunny locations, all the 'Hidcote', 'Munstead' and 'Augustifolia' plants died. In a protected area with morning sun, they thrived but grew woody and ugly after a couple of years.

Then I tried 'Grosso' in the protected location and have been very pleased. It produced a nice mound that did not develop the ugly woodiness of the two other cultivars I have tried. 'Grosso' has survived two severe winters in the protected location, although it did not survive the open, sunny spot.

I may be butchering lavender nomenclature by calling species cultivars. Please forgive (and educate) me!

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When I planted Lavender 'Grosso' years ago, I made sure that the soil was well draining, lean, not fertilized, had added lime, and had all-purpose sand mixed in I also added pea gravel and/or small crushed gravel to the top as its mulch.

I never did fertilize 'Grosso' the whole time I had it. The only reason it's not in my flowerbed anymore is that I decided to plant other flowers in the flower bed.

I made sure to allow 2 to 3 ft for spacing because it's a Lavender that needs a lot of space to look its best, as you can see in my photos. The photos were taken years after I had planted it and a year before I dug it out.

During the growing season, as the stems of flowers faded, I'd cut the stems to promote more flowering. Sometimes I'd cut fresh flowering stems to take into the house. The fragrance is wonderful!

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