Product Field NotesLavender Plants
Pure Platinum Lavender: A Wide Lavandin with Late-Summer Blue
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Pure Platinum lavender is a lavandin, Lavandula × intermedia, that grows out more than up. It forms a bushy, mounding, upright plant about 30 inches tall and up to 54 inches wide, with silver-green to gray-green foliage and blue to dark blue-violet spikes. It blooms late, starting in mid-July and peaking in mid-August.
At four and a half feet across, one plant covers the ground that three compact English lavenders would.
Pure Platinum at a glance
| Trait | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Lavandula × intermedia 'Pure Platinum' |
| Parentage | L. angustifolia × L. latifolia |
| Flower color | Blue to dark blue-violet |
| Foliage | Silver-green to gray-green |
| Size | About 30 inches tall and up to 54 inches wide |
| Bloom | Starts mid-July, peaks mid-August, one main flush |
| Hardiness | USDA zones 5a to 8b |
| Ratings | Excellent for oil, cut flowers, dried flowers and pollinators |
Using a wide lavandin
Pure Platinum's broad spread is useful wherever you want to cover ground. Plant it along the top of a sunny retaining wall so it spills slightly over the edge, on a dry slope where mowing is a chore, or in a long row beside a drive. A few plants fill a large bed with silver foliage and late-summer blue. Its mid-August peak also makes it one of the last lavenders to bloom, extending color well after most English types are done.
See where it lands on the Lavender Bloom Calendar.
Spacing is everything
Give Pure Platinum its full width. Crowded lavandins trap moisture between them, and damp foliage and soil invite trouble. Space plants about four and a half feet apart in a garden, and set field rows wide enough to work between. Choose full sun and lean, fast-draining soil. Sandy or gravelly ground is ideal; clay needs a raised or mounded bed.
Care and pruning
- Water: deeply during the first season, then rarely. Water needs are low.
- Feeding: skip it. Rich soil makes wide lavandins flop open in the middle.
- Pruning: after the August harvest, cut back into a rounded mound, staying above the woody base where green growth remains.
- Winter: sharp drainage matters more than any cover. Keep leaves and wet mulch off the crown.
The Pruning Calendar has timing for lavandins.
Harvest and uses
For dried bundles, cut on a dry August morning when about a third to half of the flowers on each spike have opened. Hang small bunches in a dark, airy spot to hold the blue color. It is rated excellent for essential oil, high oil production, fresh bouquets and dried flowers, and its fragrance is a strong floral-herbal lavandin blend. It is also rated good for culinary use, though lavandin is stronger and more camphor-forward than English lavender, so use it sparingly if at all. Pollinators crowd it in late summer, and deer generally avoid it.
It is offered as 3-inch plugs, 4-inch pots and 1-gallon pots. See the product page for current sizes and availability.
Frequently asked questions
How wide does Pure Platinum get?
Up to about 54 inches, much wider than it is tall. Plan spacing accordingly.
When does it bloom?
Late: from mid-July, peaking in mid-August, with little rebloom.
Is it hardy in zone 5?
Yes. It is rated for zones 5a to 8b. Good drainage is the key in wet winters.
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