Were there leaves? Some of the lavender species seem, by their names, to be distinguished by the shape of the leaves. Photos of habit and leaves, and indication of the size, are often helpful.
I should not be answering this, but I did find a page that compares the top two contenders, Lavandula angustifolia and L. latifolia: Comparison of morphological features between Lavandula angustifolia,... | Download Scientific Diagram The way it's worded, young L. angustifolia leaves would be fuzzy grey on top; L. latifolia leaves would have silvery-grey fuzz on the undersides. There are other differences, some which would be distinctive, like whether the flower stalks are branched. But, to complicate matters, there are hybrids. And cultivars. See if you can get several of the characteristics to match one of the plants compared there.
It's a tall order indeed ! Indeed, fuzzy grey and silvery-grey fuzz leave room for subjective judgement. But, as you mentioned hybrids and cultivars, they complicate even further ! I guess I will settle at angustifolia/latifolia. Thanks very much for your effort.
I'd like to encourage you to use this as a learning exercise. The descriptions are pretty good in that document I referenced. You can take that to the plant, read down point by point what you're able to see, and photograph the feature and note if you think it matches which criteria, and whether on the whole, what you see matches one of the descriptions.
Thanks a lot for pointing me in the right direction. I started taking bird photos first. Then in this lean period when most are migrating inland, I had time to chase after dragonflies and butterflies. Then I shoot flowers on which these creatures alight. Always want to pinpoint the things things I shot/caught since primary school. This habit persisted to my present age of 76, when eye sight deteriorated with right eye getting myopic macular degeneration. I use camera to catch things I cannot see clearly with my eyeballs Mark 1. I usually shoot in the morning and sorting the things out in afternoon. I will try to shoot the lavender when I get spare time. Right now I am after nesting birds. I cannot shoot both plants and birds at the same time becaue I have to carry another set of camera and macro lenses. Extra weight burdens my bypassed coronaries of 9 years and my spinal stenois, operated last year. Simply cannot carry so much weight these days !
In UK we have several specialist nurseries that grow and sell lavender plants. There are many named cultivars now available...all looking very similar...see link below. It takes an expert to begin to give a name to your pic. In UK Lavendula angustifolia is common and the hardy one, while the exotic french lavender is more tender. https://www.hooksgreenherbs.com/lavender-plants-for-sale-buy-online/ Maybe you could ask the community garden to see if they kept a record of the name. Meantime keep getting out and about and enjoy taking your nature pics.
