Lavender Platinum Blonde (Momparler)
Lavandula angustifolia 'Platinum Blonde'
This lavender has the most attractive foliage with bright creamy-yellow margins to each leaf,
making it a focal point to any planting design or container.
The foliage and the sky-blue flowers are both fragrant and aromatic making it an ideal specimen
to plant near to the house or seating area, or alongside a path where the scent will be released as you brush past.
Like all lavenders it is a magnet for pollinators, attracting bees and many other flying insects when it is in flower.
It needs a sheltered sunny position in well drained soil.
Too much shade will result in loss of variegation to the leaves and poor flowering.
In exposed and northern areas, it is advisable to treat as a container plant and move under cover
in the wet and cold winter months.
Lavender is used in cooking in many savoury and sweet recipes, and is used extensively in the skin care and cosmetic world.
A calming tisane can be made from the flowers and foliage, and the flowers, if dried,
can be used in pot pourri and lavender bags.
Aftercare is important, and flowers should be trimmed off in late summer to leave a well-shaped plant.
Never cut into the hard wood or the plant will not recover,
and prune before the damp autumn weather sets in otherwise the plant maybe vulnerable to winter damage.