i had no luck with lavender.. over the years ...

i have been told here.. the issue is not winter hardiness.. but winter water/drainage issues ...

but the biggest problem.. looking at the pic at your link ... is space ...

a single plant of lavender.. is not very impressive.. and those who do it well.. give it lots of space.. for impact ...

i recall.. you dont have space for a nice big swath of lavender ...

ken

Part of the appeal of this particular lavender is that it is supposedly 'extra hardy'...so maybe much less of a 'foo foo', a more forigivng plant for you Ken....maybe a Lavender that you could have success with :).

And even two lavenders in close proximity can provide a striking swathe of blue.

(I currently have 2 first year Lavender in a garden in now their first winter. If they dont survive these tricky winter conditions then I will give PHENOMENAL a go in 2013.)

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 19:23

I have great luck with Lavender here. Thanks for posting this. I will order a couple this spring to try.

Here is a picture of one of my "Blue Cushion" Lavenders taken today. This is its first winter...and what a winter i.e. extreme cold, spikes of very warm weather + often soaking rains which later freeze...all things not liked by lavender :(.

Here is a picture of this new hardy lavender; one sent to me by the grower. It is so much larger than any website which includes its dimensions. A very impressive plant!

Thank you for posting the photo of this new lavender. I've been looking to add more lavender to a certain part of my long garden. I love the shape of this plant; it certainly is beautiful, but also very huge --- sadly, too large for my garden. I'll be curious to hear what kind of luck others have with it.

Molie

I feel similarly Molie.

It is so much larger than listed on any website I have seen.

I'm curious about the size issue. I have always believed that Lavender look best if trimmed back each spring. I usually cut them back to just a few inches above the ground. As a result, I never thought of Lavender as a plant that could ever get big enough to consider "out of control". Is the growth in that beautiful picture of the field all from a single season? If so, that really is an incredible plant.

It looks more like a shrub or a Nepeta. I can't imagine how I would use it either.

docmom wrote: Is the growth in that beautiful picture of the field all from a single season?

I checked with the grower and what you are seeing in the picture is the first flush of flowers on a plant that is in its 3rd season. PHENOMENAL does NOT die back.

(Of course I am guessing you can prune it as desired).

Here is a pic of my 3-year old Silver Anouk Lavender taken today! It's about 2 feet tall and 6 feet wide. We have been doing repairs on our home and my DH threw that big piece of fence right on top of the lavender! Well, I had told him to "do what he had to do to make the repairs" and I would fix everything, garden-wise, when he was done, but I didn't think he would take me quite so literally! I had to drag that thing off of the lavender plant (after finding out it had been covering the plant for a few weeks!) and she popped back up as pretty as you please. It is in the worst possible area for lavender--wet, wet, wet, clay soil. It gets the run-off for the whole side yard and the air conditioner. Nothing else has done well in that area (drowns everything), but this lavender is as happy as a clam. Breaks all the rules for lavender. Go figure.

cool funnthsun i.e. for sure breaking all the lavender 'rules' and still thriving.

I have that Anouk Lavender too and it impresses me so much. It even grows in part shade. It looks good all winter too.

Maniac, do you have Anouk or Silver Anouk like mine? I am curious if you have the regular Anouk and you have had the same success. I just ordered 5 or 6 plants of the regular Anouk, hoping it would be as "tolerant" as this Silver Anouk has been. I wanted the same growth and sustaining power that the Silver has shown for me, but didn't want such a silver look for the new garden. I figured the regular Anouk would be the best chance for that.

I have just regular 'Anouk.' I like both though. The blooms are really good. It has big blooms. This 'Phenomenal' seems to be the type with the smaller blooms. I like the type with the 'bunny ears.' LOL.

Rouge, regarding 'Phenomenal' --- it looks like just the sort of plant anyone would want/need if they had a large open field or back garden with lots of sun, kind of like your original photo. That certainly is a "WOW" plant!

Well, that is great to hear! Hopefully, my regular Anouk will do as well as the Silver, then. Perfect. Now, to find a great big spot for the Phenomenal...I wonder if the neighbor will notice the new rather large plant straddling the property line? :)

Did anyone find a Phenomenal plant in the last few seasons and try planting it? If so, I'd love to hear your results.

I have a 2 year old phenomenal lavender. It has been fine, but not crazy amazing. It takes up about the same amount of space as my other lavender and flowers a bit less.

It was set back a bit by some animal burrowing under it early Spring, so it played a bit of catch up (and recovered quite well actually) maybe next year I will change my tune.

NHBabs, I planted Phenomenal lavender. In the past I grew English Lavender but it only lasted 2 seasons. Then I bought Spanish lavender (sorry I don't know the botanical names) but I didn't care for the flower on the SL. I bought a 6 pack of Phenomenal 2 seasons ago from a high end nursery. They said it was more hardy then the others I had tried. This spring will be the 3rd season in my garden, last year it had doubled in size, which was OK I had room for it to expand. The blooms lasted longer than the SL, and I think they smell better too. Also, I don't think they like it as dry as the others I tried, it does well in my well watered south facing bed. I like the way the blooms set atop of the foliage, it looks more delicate rather than the dense foliage of the others I grew. I don't do anything to it in the fall as in protect, trim back. I think it is all preference, as the blooms are ALL different in looks. Oh, I also gave 3 of my six to a friend and hers are doing well too. I'm in Montana zone 5a, same as you but probably a lot drier. Hope this helps.

Thanks both Rosie and MaidinMT for sharing your experience with this plant! I've been looking at it for a couple of years since I haven't been able to successfully overwinter other lavenders, and it sounds like it might be worth a try here as long as is gets put in a well-drained spot.

Wow, tilay. Those are blooms lovely. I did decide to try Phenomenal lavender, and planted 4 late last summer. Several survived the winter. After a cold wet spring they haven't shown a lot of growth yet, but just the fact that they didn't die is impressive in my zone. I scattered them around the garden since I was curious about what conditions they would like best.

I would be very interested to hear from you more experienced gardeners a roster of the relative merits of lavender and nepeta. I grow walker's low nepeta, and platinum blonde and an unidentified English lavender. To me, the nepeta is far easier to propagate, a bit more trouble to trim back (and in midseason, creating an unattractive week), prone to sprawling.. What else?

I have several 'Phenomenal'- two older plants that are the best smelling lavender I have, and three more I put in just last year (put in six, lost three) to spread the love. I have a hard time finding conditions that suit them but when I get it right they sure reward me.

Oddly, I am reviving lavender love this season. 17 years ago, I had a lavender hedge the entire length of my allotment...but over the years, couchgrass and bindweed incursions, thuggish fruit bushes, enthusiastic ramblers and general pruning fails have reduced this to a handful of large clumps....still beautiful but in need of a refurb. So, a dozen new Hidcotes have already been massacred for cuttings while I have another half dozen tryouts waiting to go in the ground - Munstead, Sawyers Grosso, Vera and another couple I can't recall off the top of my head. I have had various goes with Spanish, French, Canary Island lavenders...but the plain old angustifolia is yet to be beaten in my dry and sandy soil.

Oh dear...found myself on Downderry lavender nursery site...and before I had time to think, had ordered another dozen (intermediates, mainly...so tall).