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Not only does lavender look great in bouquets, but it also has a clean, pleasant scent that many people enjoy and find comforting. And if you’ve bought fresh lavender before, you know that it can be quite expensive. So, if you want to have an endless supply of the fragrant plant, you might want to grow lavender in your own garden.
You may even have tried it before but were disappointed with the results. While there are a number of possible reasons you didn’t have a successful harvest, one of them could be that you grew a strain that doesn’t grow well in your climate. Happily, an article from Smart Healthy Green Living breaks down the differences between French and English lavender and explains where each variety grows best.
The differences between French and English lavender
There are four main differences between French and English lavender, depending on Smart healthy green life: Size, bloom, fragrance and ideal climate. Here’s What You Should Know About Each One.
size
While French and English lavender flowers are roughly the same color, they differ in size. French lavender, in particular, spreads – it usually grows to about two or three feet in width and height – while English lavender remains relatively compact in size and shape as it grows.
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Blooms
When it comes to blooming, French lavender is the clear winner. Not only do its flowers bloom longer than English lavender, there are also more flowering cycles during a growing season.
Scent
There are also differences in the scent. The scent we usually associate with lavender is from the English variety – which, according to an article by. also produces a much stronger fragrance than its French counterpart Garden know-how. French lavender, on the other hand, has a much lighter aroma that smells a little more like rosemary than what we call “lavender”.
climate
This is where you may have run into trouble growing your own lavender. While English lavender tolerates a variety of different climates – including those that have four different seasons (at least we used to), French lavender is nowhere near as flexible.
In fact, it grows best in Zone 8, which has a frost-free period between the beginning of April and the end of October. In the US, this zone includes cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Tuscaloosa, according to Brecks. Unsurprisingly, one of the places French lavender thrives is Provence.
