I don't know a lot about lavenders, but aperantly you pot the seeds in a cold frame in the spring to flower in mid summer,by the way the seeds may not come true to type,and therefor cutings are best,hope this helps.

i wouldnt expect them to flower in their first year but you might get lucky. certainly the ones my brother grew a few years back didnt flower till they were 2 or 3 yrs old.

I belive there are a number of diferent types and diferent ones are recomemded for different situations, I know that there is one for coastal arears were the wind is strong ect' so we can only generlise.