Lavandula stoechas Bandera Deep Purple - French Lavender

Lavandula stoechas Bandera Deep Purple is an excellent variety of butterfly lavender with a compact and regular habit, which is very floriferous in summer and highly fragrant. This variety with very dark flowers attracts bees. It also charms with its slightly silvery aromatic foliage in summer, evergreen in winter. Butterfly lavender is highly resistant to drought. Unlike classic lavenders, it grows in non-calcareous soil. It is a variety particularly suitable for balcony and patios.

Lavandula stoechas Bandera Deep Purple is a descendant of Lavandula stoechas, an aromatic plant from the Lamiaceae family native to the western Mediterranean basin. Wild butterfly lavender is a shrub with evergreen leaves that blooms in spring on siliceous slopes, in non-calcareous soil, which is very dry in summer. It is a moderately hardy plant ,up to -10°C (14°F) at the extreme. This plant dislikes moisture combined with severe frost, but also moisture combined with heat, which promotes the development of a fungus deadly to the roots. The Bandera Deep Purple variety is the first variety with a naturally very compact habit. It is a shrub with a very dense vegetation, broadly rounded in shape, which does not open up. Its quadrangular stems bear narrow, downy leaves, greenish grey in colour, with fringed edges, giving off a pine scent when crushed. The plant reaches a height of between 30 and 35 cm (12 and 14in) at the time of flowering, 20-25 cm (8-10in) for the foliage. It blooms from late May or early June to late September, depending on climate. At the tip of each stem, a dense, short-stalked, thick, square-shaped spike forms, bearing tiny dark violet flowers. This spike is crowned with several petaloid bracts, resembling butterfly wings, which are a purplish pink colour. It is heavily visited by pollinating insects, especially bees. It is a nectariferous and melliferous plant.