Herb · Lamiaceae
When to plant lavender
English lavender is the hardy one; French and Spanish types are noticeably more tender and shorter-lived. All of them want poor, dry, alkaline ground.
First worthwhile crop
Year 1
After planting, not after sowing.
Hardy in USDA zones
5a to 9a
Winter cold sets the limit here, not the calendar.
Frost tolerance
Hardy
How much cold the plant itself will take.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Nothing about a standing crop is sown to a calendar. Once planted, lavender stay in the ground for years, so the question is not when to sow but whether your winter is survivable and your planting window is open. Both answers come from your frost dates.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 1 after planting.
- Hardy in USDA zones 5a–9a.
Getting the timing right
Plant out after the last frost. Prune immediately after flowering, taking off about a third but never cutting into leafless old wood, which rarely reshoots.
Frost tolerance
English lavender takes about -18C in well-drained soil. In heavy or wet ground it dies at temperatures well above that, which is why lavender fails in clay gardens.
Classified as hardy, with damage expected below -18°C (-0.4°F)-0.4°F (-18°C).