Transcript:
Hey, good morning, It’s Jason from Fraser Valley. Rose Farm and today. I wanted to talk to you about the different types of lavender. You can grow in your garden now. Most people first fall in love with lavender, either by images of or by visiting France or Italy or Spain, where they have those beautiful Lavender fields. And you can imagine those with those beautiful straight rows of the of the gorgeous Blue flowers and the scent, the that lavender scent they use it for perfume. They use it for those cut stems that are that are wonderfully soothing and calming. And so if that’s the kind of lavender that you’re. Interested in? That’s the first type. I’ll talk about after that. I’ll also talk about some other varieties that are excellent for the garden as well, but maybe not quite so highly scented. So the first group I wanted to talk about is the English lavender, and I should say right up front that English Lavender is not native to England. It just got that name to contrast it. I guess. From other varieties of lavender that are rather called French, lavender or Spanish, lavender and are a little more suitable to a warmer climate. Whereas the English lavender is tends to grow well in a cooler climate as well. I have some English lavender with me here. And Unfortunately, it’s not much to see right now because it’s getting ready for winter. It’s it’s now it’s November here. So it’s starting to toughen up and harden off it’s nicely. Well, Branch. So this will be a beautiful plant next year and thank you to Valleybrook Gardens for lending Me the pot. But It’s it’s not much to see in terms of the flowers right now. I also have one of these Spanish lavender varieties with me here and again. You can’t tell much right now because it’s it’s tight and ready for next year. But I will talk about those varieties here and give you some pictures as well. So first I wanted to go over the characteristics of English, Lavender. So the characteristics of English, Lavender Lavandula angustifolia. It is characterized most predominantly by its beautiful scent. It is actually the nicest scented of the lavenders, a nice, gentle, complex, Relaxing scent, and when they talk about distilling oil from lavender, this is the one that’s characterized by the highest quality of oil. I’ll also say that as I maintain it in the garden here and take stems. They hold their scent quite nicely, and they mark it quite well. So I love this this plant. It is quite variable. You can get a lot of different variety in the English Lavender, all the way from in color from white through Pink Lavender (violet), of course, to basically a true blue color. They vary in height quite a lot as well. You can get ones that are a bit shorter. You can get ones that are a bit taller. And ones that bloom early in the season, some saloum a little bit later and some that even Bloom Repeatedly, it is Hardy to zone 5 So it’s when they call it English Lavender, It’s because of the hardiness to some degree, and so it’s hard to zone 5 Unlike some of the other lavenders, which are much more tender in terms of varieties. You can get varieties like Munstead -. Hidcote is a popular variety. Royal Velvet is a third variety. On the farm here, I will say I’ve selected my variety for next year that I’ll be starting from seed and I’ve chosen hid coat from Julito. It’s a Hidcotesuperior. I’ll show you a Screenshot of what I purchased here. But those are the seeds. I’ll be starting next year. The next variety I want to discuss. Is Lavendula X intermedia, or sometimes they call this variety lavandin and it’s also used as a aroma or a scented oil lavender. Except this one has a much stronger scent. It’s that one that you would associate with soapy Menthol based sense of lavender that you find in many products, so it’s much stronger, It’s much higher yielding and they use that in the industry as well. Now, in terms of its variability and the kinds that you can get, it’s much less varied, It’s also a hardy variety of lavender about to zone 5 But it’s characterized by thicker, coarser stems, Usually a characteristic, quite a gray color to the foliage taller flowers Usually not singly born not one flower, but usually three on a stem and A very narrow range of colors, usually just in that violet or violet. Blue color of lavender. Now the Previous one, the English Lavender I was talking about. You can get a lot of different variety. Both from seed and from cutting with the lavend and varieties that its intermedia variety. I’m talking about now. You can only get it by cuttings. So it’s only available, You have to find a source or a supplier of it, and then you can only produce it by cuttings and I will be showing. I will be making a video in this coming season to show you how to do lavender by cuttings. I’ll also be growing them from seed. So I’ll show you both ways. But the main thing, of course, is that if you have one that has to be done by cuttings. Then you have to obtain the plant. First, grow it to a stage. That’s good for cuttings, and then you can start your propagation. Okay, having discussed the English, lavender and the lavandin as cut varieties or oil varieties. Which are both Decent garden plants as well. Although I probably think the English lavender is the better of the two in terms of an ornamental plant. Now I want to talk about two other plants that are maybe not so much used. For their scent, not so much used for their oils. They have a nice, gentle, moderate scent, but they wouldn’t be used for oil extraction for sure. But are beautiful for as ornamental plants. And the first one of those two that I’ll talk about is one called Spanish, lavender or Lavendula. Stoecha’s is characterized by big, beautiful, prominent flowers with these these. I guess flags you would call them or colored bracts that last a long time. It’s the champ. As far as a flowering, lavender goes in terms of ornamental value it. Blooms early, it blooms often it blooms. Repeatedly, and those flowers are large and impressive and come in a wide range of colors. This is another one that you can grow from seed or by cuttings. Although many of the best varieties are produced by cuttings, one of the most prominent Varieties that’s well Known is a variety called Anouk, which just has big, prominent long lasting flowers and has kind of been the industry standard for a long time now. The Spanish lavenders are not as Hardy as the English lavender. You might see them Hardy to about Zone 6 or Zone 7 They also will handle heat in the summer. A lot better than the English lavenders. Will they perform well in warmer varieties or warmer climates, And that’s one of their characteristics. The final one I want to talk about here Is a lesser-known lavender. You may find it in the stores as well called Lavendula dentata, It’s the fringed, lavender or toothed lavender. You can see in the foliage that it has this fringed pattern that, actually. You know, catches the cultural memory of lavender somehow, so it’s actually an older variety. It’s great in containers. But it has a couple of drawbacks. First of all, the flowers are not particularly conspicuous. It’s not extremely well scented and it’s tender. It’s only like zone 8 or zone 9 So if if you find that in the store and you want to use it in containers, you know? It makes a nice impression and it has beautiful looking foliage. But as far as an ornamental variety goes, I would definitely stick back to the Spanish Lavender that the one with the big flowers or the English lavender, which is again very, very impressive has smaller flowers, but the ornamental affect of English lavender is Outstanding. So as I say, I’m gonna be talking in the spring about how to propagate both of these from both seed and from cuttings. So if you want to hear about that, You may consider subscribing to the channel, and we have any questions about the different types and varieties of lavenders in the meantime. This is the time of year to think about it. This is the time of year you’re planting or sir planning before you plant and. So if you have any questions, leave those below the video and thank you so much for watching.