Lavender repels browsing deer and is a top bee-attracting plant, making it a great addition to vegetable gardens that need pollinators. Containers of hardy lavender are fragrant additions to outdoor sitting areas and create fragrant hedges in sunny, well-drained herb and dry border gardens. Lavender needs neutral to alkaline soils amended with sand and gravel and added gravel mulch in winter to aid drainage around the crowns. In spring, cut two-year-old lavender back to about 2" above woody stems to new shoots, creating a bushy rounded form that will bloom on the new season's growth. Harvest flowers when they are barely opened and dry upside down for several weeks. Deadhead the spent blooms and trim lightly for some possible rebloom later in the season. Take cuttings after three years to replace old specimens with fresh, vigorously growing plants; however, lavender plants can be longer-lived with proper pruning. Lavender is an edible flower; when used sparingly, its perfumed flowers flavor honey and iced sorbets.