KWynne, Where are you? I am in the coldest part of zone 5, andI have given up on most of the available lavenders, though there is one relatively new one, Phenomenal, that is supposed to be hardy to zone 4 and more tolerant of humidity that I might try.

In my experience, lavender needs excellent drainage, especially in the winter, and does better in areas warmer than mine, though how warm it needs to be depends on the variety. Even though often my lavender survived, it was in such poor shape that it never really recovered, and so looked ugly all season and died the second winter.

If you want to add your zone and general location information, you may get responses that are more helpful than mine. Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Oops... I am on southern coastal Maine.

Being coastal, your plants' emergence will probably be a bit delayed compared to inland areas due to the large cold mass of the ocean water near you. Also being in southern coastal Maine, you are in the warmer area of zone 5b, so I would think lavender has a reasonable chance to survive where you are as long as it is in an area with good sun during the growing season and good drainage year round.

Thank you! I have hope now. I will stick it out (no pun intended..)

KWynne, I am in RI (zone 6B) and I have had lavender for many years now. I think it's L. angustifolia. I know you are a zone 5, but I thought I'd give you some information anyway. I do absolutely nothing to it. It is in full sun all day, and on a very slightly raised area, with a crushed natural stone mulch. The slight raising of the area and the stone mulch help to keep in dry and well drained. It thrives, and has spawned many seedlings. It's almost invasive, but in a welcome and minimal way.

Oh that is beautiful!

I will wait it out. It is still early afterall.

I am in Zone 6 and have had good luck with a variety called "Dilly Dilly". The description says: Dilly Dilly, a spike lavender with silvery green leaves, highly fragrant violet blus 2-3" blooms in mid summer attracts butterflies and bees. This combination of french and english lavenders grows where others fail. Tolerant of heat,cold,and humidity. Grows on poor rocky soil and is deer resistant.