Winter hardy and frost-resistant lavender - the best varieties!
- Winter hard lavender
- Not hardy lavender
Whether lavender is hardy and frost-resistant depends on the variety. In times of global trade, we also sell many types of lavender. In the article you will learn which lavender can survive the winter in the German Garden and how you can trace the winter hardiness of a certain lavender.
The best-selling, "normal" lavender here are hardy and frost-resistant. Many other lavender that you could also find today (in trade or as a gift), must be well protected in winter or should be planted in cold regions right in bucket to be brought in the winter in the house.
Winter hard lavender
Not every type of lavender is so hardy that it survives the winter unprotected in our climate.
Our most common lavender grows in the winter hardiness zones 5 to 10 and in exceptional cases even survive the winter climate of zone 3 (down to -40 ° C) (such an exceptional case was probably not tested, but probably never happens to us).
Uncritical hardy with us are three European lavender varieties:
- Lavandula angustifolia - Real lavender
- Lavandula lanata - wooly lavender
- Lavandula latifolia - Broadleaf lavender
These lavenders of the subgenus Lavandula, section Lavandula come from Spain or Italy and are actually hardy in all breeds / crosses, but only as adult and vigorous plants. Until then, they should be in a warm, sheltered location - young lavender should be wintered in doubt better in the house, lavender plants in unfavorable locations or in cold regions are looking forward to some winter protection.
Tip: True lavender and Co. may grow in cooler regions - every plant tolerates a certain temperature range, in Provence it can get pretty cold. However, Provence is in the winter hardy zone 8/9, while Germany is moving from USDA hardiness zone 8b (at most -9.4 ° C) to winter hardiness zone 5b (-26 ° C). If you value the aroma of your lavender, you should not expect too much in a cold climate with winter hardiness zone 5b, and even in friendly, German regions, it needs the sunniest and warmest location your garden has to offer.
Not hardy lavender
Even with the above-mentioned types of lavender, it can be hard enough to bring them through the winter as young plants. But we still have all sorts of other types of lavender on the market, which traders sometimes sell as hardy - that's what they are, but unfortunately only in the deepest south of Spain.
The following types of lavender are sold more often:
- Lavandula x allardii, which tolerates up to 1.80 m tall shrub lavender or giant lavender, max. USDA hardiness zone 8, -12.2 ° C
- Lavandula dentata, French lavender or dental lavender, tolerates max. USDA hardiness zone 8, -12.2 ° C
- Lavandula multifida, the fern-leaved lavender, oregano lavender, tolerates max. USDA hardiness zone 9, -6.6 ° C
- Lavandula heterophylla, room Lavender,, tolerates max. USDA hardiness zone 9, - 6.6 ° C
- Lavandula viridis, the lemon lavender with the extraordinary creamy white to yellow flowers, tolerates max. USDA winter hardiness zone 6, -23.3 ° C, but in harsh areas it is recommended to use cold frost for winter protection
The varieties just mentioned are, except for the lavender, all bucket-lavender, which should be brought back to the winter.
In the course of global trade or as a souvenir of travel around the world, you may find the following types of lavender, whose USDA hardiness zone has often not yet been determined. But you can estimate the hardiness after the original home:
- Lavandula antineae: native mountain range of the Sahara (Algeria, Niger, Chad)
- Lavandula bramwellii: home island Gran Canaria.
- Lavandula buchii: home of Tenerife.
- Lavandula canariensis: native Canary Islands
- Lavandula citriodora: native southwestern Arabian Peninsula
- Lavandula coronopifolia: distribution area from Cape Verde Islands to southern Iran
- Lavandula mairei: home of Morocco
- Lavandula maroccana: native Morocco
- Lavandula minutolii: Homeland Canary Islands
- Lavandula pinnata: home Madeira and Lanzarote
- Lavandula pubescens: range from the south-eastern Mediterranean to the western Arabian Peninsula
- Lavandula rejdalii: home southern Morocco
- Lavandula rotundifolia: native Cape Verde
- Lavandula saharica: native to southern Algeria, southern Libya and southwestern Egypt
- Lavandula tenuisecta: native Morocco
- Lavandula aristibracteata: native northern Somalia
- Lavandula dhofarensis: home to southern Oman
- Lavandula galgalloensis: native northern Somalia
- Lavandula macra: home to northern Somalia and southern Arabian peninsula
- Lavandula nimmoi: endemic of the island of Socotra
- Lavandula qishnensis: native southeastern Yemen
- Lavandula samhanensis: native southern Oman
- Lavandula setifera: native northeastern Somalia and southern Yemen
- Lavandula somaliensis: native northern Somalia
- Lavandula subnuda: native states of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf and northeastern Oman
- Lavandula bipinnata: native India
- Lavandula gibsonii: home to western and southwestern India
- Lavandula hasikensis: home to southern Oman
- Lavandula atriplicifolia: native Egypt and western Arabian Peninsula
- Lavandula erythraeae: home of Eritrea
Tip: If a trader claims that a cultivar is hardy in your garden, you should look for a USDA hardiness zone on the label of the plant and ask for it from the trader. The winter hardiness zones developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at average low temperatures are also the international standard in Europe for indicating the winter hardiness of a plant. The winter hardiness zone of your hometown can be found on the Internet with the search Hardiness zone + location.
