Plant Library

Description:

An attractive subshrub featuring aromatic gray-green leaves edged with pale yellow to cream variegation; fragrant pale lavender flowers in mid-summer; excellent for borders, containers, and massing in the garden; tolerant of heat and humidity

Ornamental Features

Meerlo Variegated Allard's Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant lavender flowers with blue overtones rising above the foliage in mid summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive grayish green foliage edged in creamy white with hints of buttery yellow. The fragrant narrow leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Meerlo Variegated Allard's Lavender is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and can be pruned at anytime. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Meerlo Variegated Allard's Lavender is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Meerlo Variegated Allard's Lavender will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Meerlo Variegated Allard's Lavender makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.