Lavender Growing & Care
There are hundreds of lavender cultivars in shades of pink, white, lavender and deep purple! English lavender (Angustifolia) is true lavender, used for culinary uses, it has slender flowers on more compact stems and a tidy round growth habit, Intermedia type lavenders are a hybrid or cross between the English and a Portuguese variety, creating well known varieties like Provence. These intermedia varieties have a larger growth habit with longer stems and that same slender long lavender bud as their Angustifolia parent. Because of their higher camphor levels these varieties are cultivated for essential oil production and are lovely as a taller border.
Spanish lavender (Lavender Stoechas) has a more sprawling growth habit, with the flower heads that resemble tiny pineapples. Spanish Lavender can handle humid climates better than English varieties.
Once your lavender has finished their bloom, it's time to prune.
Shear back and shape into a dome, trimming back 1/3 of your plant after it's flowers are spent. You want keep your trimming in the flexible green growth and not below into the woody stems because new growth wont typically grow out of the woody base.
Lavender loves full sun and dryer, well draining, slightly alkaline soil. It's a drought-tolerant plant, that once established after it's first year, only requires infrequent deep waterings at the base of the plant rather than overhead. Lavender doesn't love clay soil that holds water. If your yard is clay, you can try planting lavender on mounds and amending the planting hold with pea-gravel and other types of grit to improve drainage. You could try raised beds if amending clay soil sounds daunting. Then fill the beds with a well drainging soil mix that better suits lavender.
Plants typically live 5-10 years before needing to be replaced. Keeping them watered correctly and pruned after bloom will help it thrive! Lavender is deer resistant, making it an easy yes for us who happen to be cultivating a garden entirely for a heard of deer living on the property apparently. :)
Happy planting!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.