This is a Mona lavender (Plectranthus). It is a tender perennial - which means it needs protection in the winter. It was hybridized in Australia in 1999 and is just now receiving the praise it so richly deserves.
While all lavenders produce well under reasonable conditions, this one seems to do extremely well. This particular plant is about three years old and I've never seen any disease or pest on it.
Good soil and moisture are requirements for this lavender. About once a month (during the growing season) she's fed with Miracle Grow with a little Epsom Salts in the mixture. In case you don't know, the magnesium in Epsom Salts encourages new blooms.
This is a closeup of its dainty, trumpet-shaped blossoms. But its leaves are as interesting as the blooms. They are serrated and a beautiful shade of green. The underside of the leaves are a deep purple color with even deeper purple colored veins. When the wind is blowing . .the show is unmatched.
It roots very easily and in the spring time, I'll root a few cuttings to put in my shade garden. These will get three feet high by summer. Sometimes I'll dig them out in the fall and pot them . .but mostly, I let nature have its way.
Unlike most lavender, Mona cannot take full sun; but she does well in dappled shade. Pinching the stems while they are young ensures a bushy plant.
The lavender below is hardy and is very, very prolific. I bought this one about four years ago and had to divide it this fall. It had produced (wherever the limbs touch the soil, it roots) enough plants to make a hedge about 10 feet long, plus some to put in containers. The instructions for caring for this lavender are not the same as the Mona. This one likes full sun with very little water and fertilizer. Its only requirement is pruning. Unless its pruned to allow some sun to the center of the plant, it begins to die in the center (I learned this the hard way). Since I normally have my pruners in my hip pocket, I just reach down and remove some of the tallest stems; this allows light back into the middle and regrowth starts immediately. I've never seen any disease or pest on this lavender either.
This is one of the pots in which I placed some of the 'leftovers' from my hedge (another pot flanks the entry to my garden). They look a little close but I'd prefer to thin them out each year rather than wait several seasons for the plant to fill the pot! The pink fronds behind the pot is Muhley Grass, which I'll cover in a later post. It's just now beginning to bloom good and hasn't quite reached its peak.
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