Lavender La Diva is a compact lavender with silvery, aromatic evergreen foliage and violet flower spikes in summer, both of which dry well for arrangements. It stays tidy and low, making it a sensible choice for a front-of-border planting or a container.

In Birmingham the limiting factor is not cold but our humidity and wet clay, since lavender dies of wet feet and stagnant air. Give it full sun, plant it high with sharp drainage, mulch with gravel rather than bark, and leave room for air to move through the clump.