Lavandula X Intermedia ‘Grosso’

Also known as Lavandula Dilly Dilly but we’ll forgive it because it’s not the plants fault, is it? We love the ‘X’ in its name though, which we think makes it rather enigmatic. ‘Grosso’ for our purposes is a more than worthy addition to the Lavender canon and a smashing robustly-vigorous one to boot.

It’s one of the more darkly-flowered varieties and what we’d call a proper unapologetic purple, with no uncertainties around that is-it mauve or is-it-lilac anxiousness that some other varieties seem to have. As for its vigour, we can confidently attest to this one’s sturdiness due to it being a hybrid cross between a L. augustifolia and L. latifolia. With hybrids generally exhibiting the better qualities of their parents, and having now performed an enigma-ectomy of its name, we’d suggest that these ones are larger than either mum or dad and flower for longer too. ‘Grosso’ will be powerfully pongy and full of bees, as all proper Lavenders should be, all the way through July to the end of September.

If happy, this one could get to 100cm x 100cm over 5 years or so and they will become shrubbier and more characterful as they age. It’s sometimes quite nice to see a proper trunk on a Lavender, gnarled and twisty and Tuscan, and what could be more evocative for a Mediterranean garden or dry landscape planting?

We’ve said it elsewhere about Lavenders but honestly if you can’t give them full sun and the sharpest drainage, don’t bother. These grow best planted in full sun, on very free draining soil with good air circulation. Prune after flowering and in mid-September to keep the plants compact if you’re a neat freak and you really want to.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.