Lavender Cultivars

Overview

A cultivar is a named variety of a plant. Every lavender you plant in the game is a real cultivar with its own record: its species group, the hardiness zones it survives in, when it blooms, its flower color, its mature height and spread, and what it is best used for.

The game holds 422 cultivar records. 377 of them can be planted in your field. The other 45 are kept for learning in the Cultivar Atlas: 33 are species reference records, 9 are older or alternate names that point to another cultivar, and 3 (Vera, Grappenhall and Edelweiss) have names that are still under identity review.

Species groups

Lavenders come in botanical groups. The group decides a lot: how cold-hardy a plant is, whether it needs winter chill to flower, and which star ratings it tends to score well in.

What makes cultivars different

• Hardiness zones. Each record lists the coldest and warmest USDA zones it suits. Inside that range the plant is "well suited"; outside it is a "climate challenge": it grows at 72% speed and takes 20% more frost damage.
• Bloom record. Words such as "June", "early summer" or "midsummer" set the weeks when the plant can bud and bloom. The game slides these weeks earlier or later to match your own last frost date.
• Flower color. From white and pale pink to deep violet-blue. The plot painting uses the cultivar's own color.
• Height × spread. Mature size in inches, from under 5 inches to about 51 inches tall.
• Plug price and yield. Each plug costs 13 to 38 coins. Bigger plants cost more, and they also give bigger harvests. The game's yield number runs from 18 to 113.
• Growth speed. Most cultivars need one unit of warm-weather growth per stage. Most lavandins need 20% more, so they climb the early stages a little slower.
• Six star ratings. Oil, Aroma, Stems, Bundles, Display and Culinary, each from 1 to 5 stars. They follow your harvest into every product.
• Uses. Culinary, oil, bundle, dried and pollinator tags show what a cultivar is good for.

The six star ratings

The stars come from research trials where they exist, and from the cultivar record and species otherwise. When a cultivar's identity is still uncertain, none of its stars go above 4.

Unlocking cultivars

You can read about every cultivar from Level 1, but you can only plant one once your farm reaches its unlock level. Six well-known cultivars are ready at Level 1: Folgate, Hidcote, Munstead, Buena Vista, Jean Davis and Grosso. More well-known names follow up to Level 10, and everything else is spread from Level 11 to Level 100.

A cultivar you already grew stays plantable, and a plant that arrives from a real order from the farm unlocks its cultivar right away.

Where you see cultivars

• Cultivars tab in the Lavender Field: search, filter by group, use and zone fit, and pick what the Plant tool plants.
• Cultivar Atlas: study, compare and observe cultivars for XP.
• Inspect: a planted plot shows its cultivar's stars, zone fit and uses.
• 3D farm: with the Plant tool in hand, the cultivar chip shows what you will plant; tap it to choose another from the same list.

Tips

• Turn on the zone-fit filter before you choose. A well-suited cultivar grows faster and handles cold better.
• English lavenders score highest for Culinary and Aroma; lavandins score highest for Oil and Stems.
• Spanish and other tender lavenders do not need winter chill, but most of them only suit zone 7 and warmer.
• Plant a few different bloom times so your harvest is spread over more weeks.

See also