Lavandula angustifolia Havana - True Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia Havana (‘Arbelpaso’PBR) is a variety of compact true lavender selected for its dense, regular habit and its deep blue-violet flowers. Compared to classic forms, it offers stockier vegetation, produces fuller spikes and maintains a tidier appearance in borders and pots. Its foliage is also less sensitive to humidity. It is an excellent small, fragrant lavender for dry gardens, rock gardens, sunny terraces and Mediterranean borders.

This variety descends from the species Lavandula angustifolia, of the Lamiaceae family, called true lavender, common lavender or narrow-leaved lavender. In the wild, it grows in Mediterranean Europe, particularly in Spain, France and Italy, on dry slopes, stony hillsides, poor grasslands and well-exposed sites, sometimes at altitude.

Marketed under the name Havana, or occasionally Havanna, it has a protected variety name: ‘Arbelpaso’PBR. It is not a lavandin. It is a small perennial undershrub, woody at the base, which rounds with age. Its growth is fairly fast; it reaches 40 to 50cm in height with a comparable width. Its stems carry narrow, grey-green foliage with a silvery sheen. The leaves are about 3 to 5 cm long and evergreen in not too cold climates. When crushed, they release a fresh, aromatic, slightly camphoraceous perfume. Flowering occurs in June and July, sometimes extending into August, depending on the climate and how its pruned. The flower buds have a slightly powdery appearance before opening. The small tubular flowers, gathered in short, dense spikes, display a deep blue-violet hue, darker than that of many true lavenders. They are fragrant and nectar-rich, visited by pollinating insects. The deep and branched root system helps the plant resist drought once well established. However, stagnant humidity will cause it to perish. A light pruning after flowering helps keep the clump compact. 

Lavender 'Havana' grows in full sun in any well-drained soil. Its hardiness is rated at -10/-15°C peak in good conditions. In soil too clayey or in too humid a climate, plant it on a bank, in a raised bed or in a rock garden. Use it to create a border or at the front of a bed of dwarf roses, mixed with Stipa tenuifolia and Nepeta 'Cat's Pajamas', for example. It can also be planted in the rock garden with lemon thyme 'Aureus' and oregano 'Kent Beauty', to edge a path… Grown in a pot, it should be watered regularly, but spaced out to allow the substrate to dry between waterings.

Tips: put the dried flowers in a handkerchief and close by tying its four corners to scent the linen and repel moths. Make scented sugar by putting lavender leaves in brown sugar.

Lavandula angustifolia is a medicinal plant, whose therapeutic virtues were once widely known: its essential oil has antiseptic, antispasmodic, healing, depurative, and diuretic properties…