Lavender Stoechas

Series Summary

Growing herbs in your own herb garden allows you to harvest herbs whenever you want without going to the store. Knowing what type of herb to plant, where to plant it and how to cultivate and harvest it can be difficult. However, growing an herb garden can be very easy with gardening tips and advice from an herb expert. In this free herb growing video series, a lavender farmer discusses growing and caring for lavender. Discover the different types of lavender and how each is used. Learn how to plant lavender from cuttings and how to prune this sun thirsty plant. Find out how lavender attracts beneficial bugs and insects and explore the history of lavender from Biblical times. Start caring for a lavender garden with information about this aromatic herb.

Video Transcript

"Lavender is a very popular plant today. And, stoechas is a subspecies in the family of lavender. What distinguishes stoechas is it looks like it has little butterfly wings coming out of the top. A lot of people like it. What it's used for mostly, is for hedging or being ornamental in your garden. But, I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the different subspecies of stoechas that are available. One of them that I really like and it's relatively new is called Van Gogh. What's so pretty about it, is the leaves are kind of a chartreuse green. It's got lilac little flowers with and it looks like it has chartreuse green butterfly wings coming out of the top. Another one that's really popular, is called Tickled Pink. It's got a really dark purple flower head and on the top it's got pink little bracts coming out. They tend to get pretty good size, I'd say maybe thirty-six inches. And, you want to make sure when they grow that you give them a good trimming. Because, they'll keep coming back and back all summer. Another subspecies within the stoechas family, is called Ballerina. And, this is actually one of my favorites. We planted some early and then they just get huge. And, what's so pretty about them is they've got purple flower heads and on the top the bracts curl up and they look like they've been painted with just a little bit of pink. Another one, is called Spanish Curly Top. And, what makes that distinctive is it's got a purple flower head and the top curls up so they look like they have little curly bracts coming out of the top. There is a series of stoechas lavender called Madrid. And, there are two that are really beautiful. One in particular, is called Madrid Blue and it's a smaller stoechas variety. But, they have dark purple flower heads with a little bit of white bracts coming out of the top. Madrid Purple is so vibrant and beautiful and it's dark dark purple with dark purple bracts coming out of the top. When you look at it in the field, it almost just reflects the most gorgeous purple color. So, stoechas is a beautiful lavender plant. What's so great about it, is it tends to bloom early in the spring and it will bloom continuously all summer. So, make sure you give it a little hair cut and the blooms will just keep coming back and back. They make a great ornamental plant in your garden."