Lavandula angustifolia Twickel Purple - True Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia 'Twickel Purple' is a beautiful variety of lavender, known as English Lavender, with particularly abundant and colourful flowering. In summer, it produces many very dense spikes of deep but gentle violet-blue colour that catch the eye. The plant also charms with its flexible habit and small, evergreen grey-green foliage that sometimes turns purple in winter. Its very abundant flowering in July-August is accompanied by a divine scent. This modest-sized lavender is ideal in the middle of a flower bed or in a rock garden. It will thrive in perfectly well-drained, rocky soil, in full sun.

Lavandula angustifolia, sometimes called English Lavender, is a plant in the Lamiaceae family, related to sage, thyme, and rosemary. The 'Twickel Purple' variety, recently obtained in the Netherlands, forms a small bush of 40 to 50cm (16 to 20in) in all directions, with a flexible, dense, and erect habit, in a rounded clump. Its decorative and evergreen foliage is composed of narrow leaves with rolled edges, aromatic, of a beautiful grey-green colour. In summer, this lavender is covered with a multitude of very colourful, highly scented, and honey-bearing flowers, carried by long cylindrical spikes, at the ends of thin woody and leafy stems. In reality, it is the coloured calyxes, surrounding the flowers, that influence the perception of the colour of the inflorescence when viewed from a distance.

This 'Twickel Purple' lavender is a hardy variety, but like most other lavenders, it needs to be planted in full sun in very well-drained (even rocky) soil, on a slope or in a rock garden. In sunny and warm locations, its foliage will be more vibrant and its flowers will exude an intense fragrance. An excellent ornamental and Mediterranean plant, lavender can be used in flower beds, as a standalone plant, in a border, in a rock garden, in a pot, by the seaside, and even as a low, flowering hedge.

For a natural look, one can combine the 'Twickel Purple' lavender with small grasses such as Stipa pennata or Stipa tenuifolia, which, with their ruffled habit, will contrast with its rounded shape. It will also work wonders when paired with evening primroses, perennial flax, astragals, euphorbias, or dark shrubs such as dwarf conifers, strawberry trees, landscape roses, and photinias. It pairs well with Iris germanica and a small bindweed called Convolvulus althaeoides. You can also create beautiful pot arrangements to place on the terrace or balcony. It is also possible to mix several lavender varieties together, creating an elegant display with a variety of flower and foliage colours, as well as plant sizes and volumes.

Properties: True lavender is a highly nectar-rich plant, contributing to the preservation of bees: the nectar of its flower attracts bees, making it one of the most renowned kinds of honey. The plant is also distilled to obtain a highly sought-after essential oil used in perfumery and aromatherapy. Its numerous therapeutic virtues are still widely used: its essential oil has antiseptic, antispasmodic, healing, detoxifying, and diuretic properties.