English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

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English lavender

Habit (mature) · Cultivar 'Jean Davis' · Andrey Butko / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

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English lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

A Mediterranean-native evergreen subshrub for sunny edges, pollinator beds, and low-water garden structure. The source of true oil of lavender; well-loved but at times difficult to grow east of the Mississippi because it does not tolerate wet feet or heavy clay.

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: narrow (38/100)

Border

Pollinator

Structure

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

18-24" tall · 24" apart

Hardy in zones

5a-9b

very cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Warm-Hot

warm to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

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A Mediterranean evergreen perennial native from southern France through the Iberian peninsula, and very tolerant of drought and dry soil. Thrives in hot, dry summers; in humid Southeastern summers it reads "difficult" — more from the humidity than from the heat itself.

Climate notes

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 39 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Chilean Matorral

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Appears in collections

Collection · 6 plants

Mediterranean drought-tolerant edible

A low-water edible palette of culinary herbs + a hardy grape for hot dry sunny sites. Mediterranean-origin plants thrive on neglect; their primary failure mode is overwatering, not underwatering.

English lavender

Rosemary

Garden sage

Oregano

Common thyme

Fox grape

Collection · 4 plants

Sunny pollinator border

A durable sunny border with summer bloom, seedheads, and upright winter texture.

English lavender

Purple coneflower

Black-eyed Susan