13 Good Lavender Companion Plants and 4 Plants to Avoid!

In summer or spring, you might look into your garden and see a carpet of violet lavender flowers. It is at that moment that you may decide that you need a break in your unicolored garden. The best way to add color to your garden is to seek lavender companion plants. 

Good companion plants that will grow well with lavender are Roses, Alliums, Yarrow, Rosemary, Thyme, and African daisies. These plants have identical or similar requirements to lavenders. 

You should avoid planting Camellias, Mint, Hosta, and Impatiens with lavender.

This is because they have different desirable growing conditions and your lavender may end up dying if grown together. 

How To Revive Dying Lavender? | Lavender Ailments

Good Companion Plants For Lavender

What to plant with lavender? This is a common question many people ask when they are planning to beautify their garden through landscaping.

1. African Daisies 

Although the name suggests that they are only found in Africa, these African daisies grow well in the USA.

They have become sort of a common and familiar sight in many gardens. 

African daisies will perfectly partner with your lavender plants. This is because the conditions that satisfy lavender are adequate for the daisies.

You won’t have to go out of your way to accommodate two plants with different needs. 

Full sun, well-draining soil, and water every week or two are a few similarities they share. The daisies may require less care than the lavender. This does mean you get to pay more attention to your lavender plants.

What makes these daisies even more special is their unique coloring. Some are bi-colored and appear to be hand-dyed!

We are sure that they will look appealing with lavender flowers. But, the African daisies may even upstage your lavender.

Why Is My Lavender Turning Yellow? With Solutions

2. Alliums

Alliums (ornamental flowering onions) are usually used to beautify the garden.

They are tall and feature a cluster of small colorful flowers that look like a round bulb when seen from afar.

Landscapers like to use this plant when decorating to give height variations with different color accents. The same applies when growing them with lavender.

The alliums are tall while the lavenders are shorter. This creates a gradient of color. It’s especially good if you have short lavender that could make the garden look bare when you plant it alone. 

Another reason why alliums are great companions for lavender is the fact that it is drought-resistant. The sparse watering routine of lavender will not be restrictive enough to affect the allium.

Alliums are very tolerant to dry conditions because they have bulbs that hold energy and provide them when required.

Why Is My Lavender Turning Brown? How To Solve It?

3. Rosemary 

Rosemary - Lavender companion plant

Lavender and rosemary, anything feels familiar about these two? They are a classic pairing, both are aromatic herbs with a range of uses.

Both originate from the Mediterranean where the sun’s light is the most prominent feature of the location. 

These two make an excellent pairing when you wish to add to your herb garden. Both won’t mind sandy soils and open sunlight one bit. 

Rosemary and lavender are known to help the whole garden by attracting pollinators like bees and butterflies. Luckily they also deter prominent animal pests like deer and rabbits.

You can use them to keep your vegetable garden safe! 

Have a rock garden? Planting rosemary and lavender will add appeal to the otherwise plain and boring rocks.

Not only do they add color, but they also create a pleasant aroma. The biggest advantage is that you can harvest both herbs whenever you require some. 

8 Common Reasons Why Your Lavender Isn’t Flowering?

4. Roses

When looking for another fragrant and appealing plant to grow with lavender, roses come to mind automatically.

And why not! They make a perfect pairing for attractive violet lavender flowers no matter what color the roses are.

Roses are quite accepting plants and they can grow in a wide range of conditions. They are tolerant to USDA zones 2 to 11 (depending on the variant of rose you select).

Two variants that would do quite well with lavender are shrub roses and floribunda roses. 

A word of caution is not to plant the roses and lavender too close together. Reasons for this being:

  • The rose bushes grow taller and could block out sunlight to the lavender
  • Roses require more water and lavender doesn’t (water roses twice a week)
  • Lack of space could lead to the plants intertwining or becoming inseparable 
  • But, with careful space planning, these obstacles can be eliminated 

Growing Lavender With Roses: Tips To Know

5. Thyme

Yet another herb joins the list of lavender companion plants. One herb that everyone loves to grow at home is thyme. But if you don’t have it, just grow it alongside your lavender. 

Thyme is not very tall and makes a great ground covering for the space between your lavender plants.

The tall flowering lavender plants will look great with a dark green carpet below. Thyme can have flowers of its own too! Pink, white, red, or purple will be the color options. 

Growing conditions are almost identical for both plants. Both favor Mediterranean conditions like sandy soils, hot sun, and minimal watering habits. Thus, making it a great third wheel for rosemary and lavender. 

Thyme is cold-hardy and becomes dormant when the frost arrives. If you want to have a partner after winter you should plant it with cold hardy lavender (English Lavender).   

How to Transplant Lavender Successfully?

6. Yarrow

Lavender Companion Plant - yarrow

Yarrow plants are similar to lavender since they are perennial and hardy ones at that! It grows best in poor-quality sandy soils and should not be grown in nutrient-rich soils. 

Providing them with overly rich soil leads to uncontrollable growth.

This then becomes an issue since they become weed-like and burdensome! Grow them in the same soils you would use for lavenders; porous with low to medium nutrient levels. 

Both lavender and yarrow have an affinity for the sun and will do well in full sunlight.

If you want to make the garden much more attractive and inviting to the eyes, yarrow and lavender are great ways to start.

Yarrow plants show a wide range of colors and you get to pick from orange, yellow, white, red, and pink. Any of these colors looks great in combination with violet lavender flowers. 

Why Is My Lavender Dying? (With Solutions)

7. Basil

Harvest Basil

Basil has a strong scent and has a repellent effect on aphids. This helps to keep Aphids away from nearby Lavender plants helping them to grow.

While watering you would have to water Lavender a bit less as its water requirement is slightly lower.

Best Soil Mix for Potted Lavender

8. Sedum or Stone Crop

Sedum grows well in full sun but can manage with some shade. It requires sandy soil that drains well. It also has low maintenance requirements like Lavender.

If you have a spot in a partial shade close to lavender, you can grow Sedum there. Sedum blooms in summer and fall when the lavender season ends and hence keeps your garden lovely.

9. Zinnia

One of the easiest flowering plants to grow along with Lavender is Zinnia. Like Lavender, they also like Full sun and well-draining soil so you don’t need to provide any additional care.

Further, with the range of colors available from pink, white, and red, you can add more color to your garden.

4 Best Lavender Plant For Growing Indoors

10. Oregano

Like Lavender, Organo also loves Full Sun and well-draining soil. Further, Oregano is a pest repellant like basil and attracts bees.

11. Coneflower plants (Echinacea purpurea)

Echinacea and lavender make good companion plants as they both require similar growing conditions.

Coneflower requires a lot of Sun and even less water compared to Lavender. Echinacea also requires well-draining soil. Thus you don’t need to worry about taking extra care.

If you grow Echinacea along with Lavender, you would see a stunning display of colors in summer that will beautify your garden.

Coneflowers also attract butterflies and bees with their bright flowers.

How Much Space Do Lavenders Need to Grow?

12. Sage

Sage is another such plant that grows well with Lavender. It also thrives in a sunny climate and requires well-draining soil.

Sage helps with its culinary and medicinal benefits. It also looks great as a border plant.

Sage also repels pests and hence helps the nearby plants to grow.

13. Marigold

Like Lavender, Marigolds also need well-drained soil and full sun. They are easy to grow and add to the color of the garden. It also attracts beneficial bees and ladybugs with their flowers.

How Long Does Lavender Live? 7 Tips To Help

Bad companion Plants for Lavender

Not every plant does well when paired with lavender.

Lavender is drought-resistant and requires very little water, this is not appropriate for most other plants. Alternatively, the high water of some plants will kill lavender.  

Below are the plants that you should not grow along with Lavender. 

1. Mint 

This evergreen herb looks great (despite having no flowers), smells even better, and has several uses.

So, why shouldn’t you plant it with lavender? The truth is the needs of mint and lavender are too different! A compromise can’t be met either. 

Unlike most lavenders, mints thrive in both hot and cold climates. They thrive in USDA zones 3 to 11! The requirements of mint are almost completely the opposite of what lavender requires. 

Growing mint requires rich soil and regular watering that keeps the soil moist, something that lavender cannot stand!

This is why these two herbs are incompatible and mint is never a good companion plant for lavender. 

Russian Sage vs Lavender – Differences & Similarities

2. Impatiens 

If you have ever seen Impatiens you would have probably been already thinking about where to plant them!

They come in the most appealing of colors. Deep purples, reds, coral, white, and yellow, all create a show-stopping sight. 

These perennials guarantee a full bloom of beautiful flowers even when everything else is not flowering well. 

The bright flower colors and limited maintenance efforts are what make these plants very popular around the world.

Impatiens and lavenders both need well-draining soils but that’s all they have in common! 

While lavender loves the sun, impatiens need low to full shade.

Also, they are very temperature sensitive and watering depends on the climate. You need to provide them with more water when it’s hot! 

Does Lavender Spread? Is It Invasive?

3. Camellias 

Looking at a blooming camellia you can almost picture patches of violet lavender flowers in-between them.

Camellias come in an assortment of colors (red, pink, yellow, white, etc) making it tempting to pair them with lavender. 

Sadly, lavender and camellias are just too different, their differences are numerous and without compromise.

Camellias are hardy to USDA zones 7 to 9 just like lavender. But, they do not have a high affinity toward the sun.

Plus, they need lots of water, at least much more than what lavender can tolerate. 

Planting these two plants in the same bed of soil is not a wise decision. Because of their sunlight and water differences, one will not survive in the other’s ideal environment.

A casualty is guaranteed! 

Is Lavender A Perennial Or Annual?

4. Hosta

These perennial plants appear in many gardens due to their attractive foliage.

Green leaves with yellowish-white borders make for an out-of-the-ordinary sighting. Hosta tolerates a range of humidity and temperatures and they can grow in USDA zones 3 up to 11! 

Caring for hostas is not difficult either. They don’t require much water and naturally need well-draining soil.

Indeed they would look good with your lavender plants and their flowers. Hosta flowers are usually a soothing blend of two colors, mostly white, pale pink, and purple. 

But, there’s a catch, they cannot be grown together.

Lavenders don’t flower in rich soil which is a basic requirement for Hosta plants. Overly rich soil will make the lavender leggy and it will not yield any flowers.

Does Lavender Grow Back Every Year?

Conclusion

Many flowers look great when put next to blooming lavender plants, but after blooming will they adapt to lavender’s conditions? This is a question you have to ask yourself if you want to find a companion for your lavender. 

Some plants have the same requirements as Lavender and will do exceptionally well when grown together.

The best examples of lavender companions are Rosemary, Thyme, Alliums, Yarrow, and Roses. The growing conditions and flowers of these plants perfectly suit those of lavender!

A plant that grows well with and compliments lavender in some way or another is called a companion plant. 

Ideally, a companion for lavender should:

  • Endure full sun for several hours
  • Require very little watering not very regularly 
  • Survive in sandy soils
  • The plant should not interfere with the lavender in any way
  • It should not invite lavender pests 
  • Both plants should bloom at a similar time 

But, not all plants grow well with lavender. Plants with high requirements for water, rich soil, and shade will not survive the typical lavender growing environment.

A few plants to avoid planting with lavender are Mint, Hostas, Impatiens, and Camellias.  

Now that you know what matches lavender, go ahead and pair up your lavender plants!

How to Grow and Tips For Caring For Lavender ‘Phenomenal’

FAQs

Can you grow Sedum and Lavender together? 

Yes, you can grow sedum and lavender together. If you are thinking about what to plant with lavender on a border, sedum is a perfect choice. Like lavender, sedum requires sandy soil and direct sunlight to grow well. This makes it one of the most ideal lavender companion plants.