Product Field NotesLavender Plants
AGRI812 Lavender: A Pocket-Size Spanish Lavender for Small Pots
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AGRI812 lavender is about as small as a lavender gets: a low, outward-spreading Spanish lavender roughly five inches tall and ten inches wide. Dark violet flower heads sit just above deep green leaves, each one topped with purple bracts that flutter like little flags.
It shares both parents with AGRI811, a Spanish lavender that grows into a large shrub. Same family, very different plans for the future.
AGRI812 at a glance
| Trait | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Lavandula stoechas 'AGRI812' |
| Flowers | Dark violet to purple heads with purple bracts |
| Foliage | Dark green, strongly aromatic |
| Size | About 4.9 inches tall and 10 inches wide |
| Habit | Low, upright to outward and broadly spreading |
| Bloom | Starts early May, peaks late May, repeat blooming |
| Hardiness | USDA zones 7a to 10b |
| Fragrance | Pungent foliage; flowers without noticeable scent |
| Wildlife | Great for pollinators; deer resistant |
Small plant, lots of uses
A lavender under six inches tall opens spots that standard lavenders cannot use. Try AGRI812 in a shallow bowl on a sunny table, at the lip of a strawberry pot, in a hypertufa trough with succulents, along the front edge of a window box or in a sunny crevice of a rock wall. Because it spreads wider than it grows tall, one plant fills a 6- to 8-inch pot neatly.
Like other Spanish lavenders, it blooms early and keeps making new heads through the season. Records describe continuous flowering from late spring into summer, so a single pot stays in color for a long stretch.
Soil, light and drainage
Use a gritty potting mix, or blend regular potting mix with coarse sand or fine gravel, and choose a container with a drainage hole. Small pots dry quickly, which lavender likes, but they also go from dry to bone dry fast in a July heat wave, so check them more often than larger containers. Full sun, six hours or more, keeps the plant tight and flowering.
In the ground, it needs a site that never stays wet: a raised rock garden, a gravel bed or the top of a wall where water runs off.
Winter planning
AGRI812 is rated for zones 7a to 10b. Gardeners in zone 7 and warmer can plant it out in a sheltered, well-drained spot. In colder regions, including most of Michigan, keep it in its pot and move it inside before hard frost to a cool, bright window or unheated sunroom. Water lightly through winter, just enough to keep the roots from drying out completely, and move it back outside once frost danger passes. The USDA Zone Finder will tell you which camp you are in.
Care through the season
- Deadheading: pinch faded heads off at the base of the stem. Its rebloom rating is high, and removing spent heads keeps new ones coming.
- Trimming: after a big flush, give it a light haircut to keep the mat dense. Stay in green growth.
- Feeding: a light liquid feed once or twice a summer is enough in a pot. Skip it in the ground.
- Watering: let the top of the mix dry before watering again, then water until it runs out the bottom.
How to enjoy it
Grow AGRI812 for its color, its pollinators and its sharp, resinous foliage scent, which comes out when you brush or pinch the leaves. Culinary use is not recommended. The tiny heads are rated good for cut and dried use, which in practice means miniature posies, bowls of dried heads or a few tucked into a card.
Choosing a plant format
It is offered as a 3-inch plug, a 4-inch pot or a 1-gallon pot. For a tabletop bowl, a plug or 4-inch pot is plenty. See the product page for current sizes and availability, and use Notify Me there if it is not available right now.
Frequently asked questions
Is AGRI812 really only five inches tall?
That is the recorded mature height. It spreads to about ten inches, so it reads as a low cushion rather than a shrub.
Do the flowers smell?
The scent is in the foliage. The flowers themselves have no noticeable fragrance on this selection.
Can I grow it indoors all year?
Lavender needs strong sun and good airflow, so it does best outdoors in the growing season and indoors only as a winter rest.
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