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Gardening

Plant royalty, The Princess Lavender

Plants Management Australia

Plants Management Australia

September 14, 2013

TheĀ longstanding lavender breeding program by Victorian plant breeders PGA (Plant Growers Australia) has had great success. With a number of lavender collections under their belt, and worldwide success of many varieties, they are certainly the Australian authority when it comes to lavender breeding. Plant breeding programs can often take years to come to fruition with a new selection that offers something with real merit. Sourcing new and varied genetics in itself can be a challenge, and that’s even before the breeding starts.
The Princess Lavender

Lavandula 'The Princess Lavender'‘The Princess Lavender’ has just hit garden centres again around the country and it’s fair to say the spring batch is selling like hot cakes. It’s the bright pink flower colour that does it – you just can’t go past those vivid tones if you’re looking to create impact in the garden. It really is a versatile plant – use it as a low feature, in containers, as a hedge – and it’s also great if you’re after that country charm in the garden. Of course the added bonus is that beautiful lavender fragrance which is always welcome. It’s also good to remember that lavenders are handy to plant near fruit trees and vegie patches to help attract pollinators.

Product_Innovation_Winners‘The Princess Lavender’ brings a new pink intensity to the genus. When in full bloom, the pink flowers really stand out against the grey-green foliage. It’s this great new colour that has caused the real stir, and led to this plant being awarded in the Product Innovation category in the 2013 Australian Business Awards. The awards are open to products and services in all industries, so it’s terrific that a plant can take the cake in such a widespread program. The award not only recognises the novelty of the plant and the new colour- the darkest pink available- but also the research and development leading up to it – which spans over 15 years by the team at PGA. ‘The Princess Lavender’ offers advantages in the propagation and production chains as well, making it easy to supply stock in reliable numbers. This is an important factor when trying to ensure consistency for retailers right around the country.

To bring an extra dimension to the story, here’s a video from the breeders. It explains the key attributes of ‘The Princess Lavender’ and gives you a great idea of just how amazing this plant looks in the garden. The video is also interesting as it demonstrates that for a new variety to be commercially successful it needs to tick other boxes ‘behind the scenes’. It’s amazing how many new plants don’t make it into garden centres as they fail the trialling process – it’s important not only that they perform well in the garden, but are reliable in propagation, meet rigorous production requirements, can be transported easily and so on. The road to commercialisation can be a long one, often full off lots of speed humps.

Keep an eye out for ‘The Princess Lavender’ this weekend. It’s worth adding one to your garden and seeing what all the fuss is about!

[This is a sponsored post from Plants Management Australia]

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rs
rs
7 years ago

I planted mine about 1 month back. Flowers have changed colour, its a brownish pink now. My question is what should be the watering schedule like? Should I let it dry out between watering intervals or should I keep it moist?

helen mckerral
helen mckerral
11 years ago

I have one of these in my garden now. It had been growing in semi-shade in the nursery so the colour was of course not as intense as indicated, and I cut the plant back by 30% at planting time, so I’ll report back when it blooms again (in full sun). I’m often a bit skeptical about the hype surrounding new introductions but Princess is performing well so far with a nice compact habit, so I hope the colour intensity will be as good as is claimed.

I’ve also bought an Eternal Fragrance ‘Pink Spring’ Daphne on the personal recommendation of a gardener I respect, and who raved about the toughness of its predecessor ‘Eternal Fragrance’ (thrives in full sun to shade in my area of the Adelaide Hills at least).

Another newish introduction to my neck of the woods is Geranium ‘Big Pink’ – if it’s as good as its older sister Big Red, which flowers heavily and continually here from spring until autumn, it will be an outstanding cultivar.

Carole Jones
11 years ago

I have purchased 10 plants as they looked so pretty in the store. they are in full sun and I water then as needed. The colour has faded totally and now the petals have turned brown and are falling off. Is this it for the bloom? What do I do next??

Amanda Mackinnon
11 years ago

Hi,
Thanks for your question.
It sounds as though the flowers have finished earlier than usual. I suspect as the plants have been just planted they may have transplant shock. I would now prune dead flowers off and you should be rewarded with a stunning display next season.

Roger Fell - Peninsula Nurseries
Roger Fell - Peninsula Nurseries
9 years ago

Where can I purchase Lavandula ‘Princess’ plugs in the usa?

Catherine Stewart
Admin
9 years ago

Hi Roger – contact Janet at Plants Management Australia and she can give you details of PMA’s USA agent. email janet@pma.com.au