Interested in growing lavender this summer? Here are critical culture notes about growing lavender this year.

First, lavender is a mounded, fragrant perennial with gray-green needlelike leaves and purple flowers.

Always grow lavender in full sun. Soil pH should be between 6 and 8, meaning it’s a good idea to work lots of lime (pelletized or pulverized) into the soil before planting. Assuming you set out “starter plants,” plant lavender 12-18 inches apart. Planting in early-to-mid May will yield spectacular results by early summer. Take note that lavender grows tall, up to 18-24 inches tall in most cases.

When you shop at a quality nursery, here are the lavender cultivars you’re likely to find:

Lavendula augustifolia: grows to four feet. This would make an exceptional hedge if this is the effect you want. This is the English Lavender that gardeners crave. It features narrow, silvery-gray leaves about two inches long. Set plants 16 inches apart so they grow into one another.

Fringed Lavender: shows dark green leaves that sometimes looks like an outdoor fern. It must have full sun to flower well.

Lavendula stoechas Fairy Wings: this is the French lavender widely used by Romans centuries ago. Flowers are dark blue, not purple. If you want, these potted plants can be grown indoors up close to a south-facing window, then set outdoors (in pots or in the garden) in mid-May. Bracts are rosy-pink contrasting with lilac-pink blossoms. A compact plant for borders.

Lavendula augustifolia Munstead: very fragrant shrub growing about 16 inches tall. Flowers are lavender-blue, probably the bluest of all lavenders.

Lavendula dentata Linda Ligon: displays highly scented white leaves , grows up to four feet tall.

Lavendula Fred Boutin: silvery leaves contrast with violet-blue flowers on eight-inch stems; plant can grow up to 30 inches’ tall.

Lavender du Provence: has been the choice in Provence, France, because if its high oil production; light purple flowers show on plants reaching two feet tall.

More cultural notes:

* Let the soil go moderately dry; avoid over-watering, otherwise you will kill plants.

* Use a granular vegetable fertilizer in early spring (scratched into the soil) to get the plant off and growing. Ordinarily, a second application is seldom needed.

* After flowering, prune lavender lightly (almost cosmetically) to keep the plant within boundaries.

* Don’t mulch for the winter, but lavender should be protected with evergreen boughs cut from your Christmas tree. Remove the boughs in early April.

* If you want lavender for sachets and potpourri, harvest flowers soon after they open. Blossoms dry easily if you hang them upside down. Dried flowers should be stored in an air-tight container in the freezer for temporary storage. Remove them from the freezer as you need fragrant lavender.

* Incidentally, lavender makes a spectacular contrast in small gardens when planted near boxwood or germander. English gardens make a fetish of lavender, planting them in “knot gardens” that you may have seen.

* The only pests happen to be spring caterpillars. Pesticides aren’t needed if you use the garden hose and douse plants with a fierce stream of water. Once caterpillars are off the plant, they won’t climb back.