types of lavender

[barber]

Does anyone know the name of a shortish bushy type of lavender I can grow ,as we have to have lavender in the front of our houses and the one we have now is about 7 years old and woody and very long and untidy ,it is out at the moment and beautiful but just unruly,we would need to plant about 12 foot of it.One of these Duchy of Cornwall enhancments!

[Robinia]

It depends what you call shortish - I don't think you can go wrong with the old fave's like Munstead & Hidcote.
There are so many lavender varieties now & I'm a bit out of touch I'm afraid. Over the yrs though I've tried many different sizes & colours & they all seem to go the same way, ie woody & messy despite trimming etc.
With a hedge the secret is to take cuttings after a couple of years so that by about year 4, or 5 at the most, you have some good plants to replace it with.
Some nurseries may supply you with a quantity of hedging lavender a little more cheaply than the normal price of individual plants.
Hope that helps.

[barber]

many thanks for your tips Robina.

[sense4all]

look at all the different plant types on this site ...

http://www.pembrokeshirelavender.co.uk/plants. asp

but I bought my lavender hedging from a gardening paper club like the Telegraph ... loads cheaper and they all come from the same place in Mancheaster anyway. Make sure you over order, I lost ten per cent during establishment , higher for the butterfly ones!

[sense4all]

Or if you have a smaller budget but a lot of patience ...

http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/pa ge8lav.htm