Freebies 48 Free Lavender Plants - Gardeners world Online Offer

Hey guys

You can get 48 free lavender plants from gardeners world offers

http://offers.gardenersworld.com/3464/T-M-48-free-lavenders.html

You only need to pay the £5.65 postage and the offer is valid until july 31st

This collection comprises 12 each of:

Lavandula 'Hidcote' (deep indigo flowers)
Height: 60cm, Spread: 75cm, Flowering period: July-October, Position: full sun

Lavandula 'Ellagance Sky' (light, lilac-blue flowers)
Height: 60cm, Spread: 75cm, Flowering period: July-October, Position: full sun

Lavandula 'Ellagance Pink' (pale pink flowers)
Height: 60cm, Spread: 75cm, Flowering period: July-October, Position: full sun

Lavandula 'Ellagance Ice' (white flowers)
Height: 60cm, Spread: 75cm, Flowering period: July-October, Position: full sun

 

Good find, cheers. I've just ordered some.

 

Yeh when i got the email i ordered some immediately. Im planning a lavender hedge so this was perfect :-)

 

Same here. I have an idea for my front garden which involves a low lavender hedge, but I've been putting off ordering because I have other priorities for my funds at present, but for £5.95 postage, its worth a punt.

 

Going for it, thanks Dips. I'm sure they've done this the last few years, I wonder what's behind it...

 

It's the classic 'loss leader'. One of the most common tools in marketing. You offer something for free, even though doing so will actually in the short term cost the business, knowing three things:

1) A certain percentage of people who take up the offer will be tempted to buy other stuff while they're there.
2) A certain percentage of those first time/one-off customers will go on to become repeat customers
3) They'll get your email address, home address, gender etc, which will then live in a big database, to be rented out to other marketing firms who want to rent a list of people matching a certain profile.

Additionally, a certain percentage of those that take up the offer will go on to tell their friends about it, thus providing free advertising, to get more people to be part of the three points above.

That's not to say its a bad thing. On the contrary, I think its a good business strategy, and fair enough I think. You can opt out of being spammed as per point 3, and of course points 1 and 2 are the customers choice too.

 

T&M's Lavenders are pretty cheap anyway (via Van Meuwen). I bought my Lavender hedge that way (it is L. Munstead), and from memory the plants were 20p each.

Actually they are current 20p each now, and not on special offer, whereas when I bought mine they were "50% extra for free", or somesuch, so probably less than 20p each

http://www.vanmeuwen.com/flowers/fl...lants/lavendula-angustifolia-munstead/61045VM

They were for "plug tray" plants, which are tiny (but were very strong plants); the T&M offer doesn't say what size they are (nor what size pot to pot-up into, which would give a clue ...)

This was the "plug tray" I got:



so make sure you have some enough 7-9cm pots handy when yours are delivered

Only other point to make is that these may well be seed-grown (particularly the Hidcote), so may not be as richly coloured as vegetatively grown plants such as those from Downderry Nursery http://www.downderry-nursery.co.uk/plant-details2/?plant=251

"The real one - vegetatively propagated from material from the original plants. Beware of impostors! "

but they are £2.60 each (9cm pot) ... I've bought a few plants from them and plan to propagate my replace Lavender hedge during this summer.

A 5-year "time lapse" set of annual photos of my Lavender Walk:
http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/cross-walk/3/#GalleryEastViewHistory

 

Thanks Kristen

It would actually be better for me if they were all plug plants that i could grow on as I wont have the space to plant them out for a while

so this would be ideal for me

and your lavender walk is beautiful. Hope mine turns out just as well

 

Found mine through my letter box today. Nice and secure packaging. Yes they are tiny, pretty much the size of that picture above.

No idea what to do with them now, should I just pot them up and keep them in my conservatory until next year? Or just wait till they grow a bit and put them outside?

 

Mine arrived today too i have potted them up into 9cm pots and stuck them in my cold frame

 

they are so tiny, how long will; they take to flower?

 

I potted mine to 9cm on arrival, and then 1L later in the season (when pot-bound) and then I planted out 2nd year in May (June would be better)

Lavender should be planted out late-ish (June or July) so that it immediately makes good growth, but early enough that it is well established before winter.

If you are on light, well draining, land then I expect you could plant out later / smaller and they will survive the winter. L. munstead is amongst the more hardy Lavenders, but small plants in wet clay soil over winter may not survive. (Planting on a slight ridge will help on heavy soil, if improving drainage is not an option).

I'm on clay soil, so that's why I decided to "pot on" and plant out in Yr 2. But ... I have greenhouse space and enough 9cm & 1L pots lying around, which made the job straightforward for me

Should flower next year.


May 2011 - 3" pots


May 2012 Planted (near section - the further section was planted a couple of years earlier)


Nov 2012 - already same size as older plants (in the distance). I expect it flowered in Summer 2012 (no photos though)


Jun 2013 - can't really tell the difference between newer plants in foreground, and old ones beyond.

More photos:
http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/cross-walk/

 

I'm ordering two lots for my workplace today.

 

Mine arrived today too. They are tiny, but they look strong and healthy. I don't think it was an especially good deal though. £5.95 for half a packet's worth of seedlings, and my details now making money for a list broker. I'm not disappointed, it was worth a punt, but I don't think I'll be buying from the again.

 

How many did you get (and how much was carriage)? They worked out about 20p a plant for me (probably excluding carriage), whereas if you buy them in the garden centre (in a 2L pot probably) they are heading for £10 each and from a specialist nursery they are £5 in a 9cm pot and only a couple of inches high (but you can specifically choose whichever varieties you like).

Plants in Discount Stores no doubt the best value - larger plants for probably a quid, and "No carriage" so to speak. But Hobsons choice on variety.

I probably said it earlier, but the "seedlings" from Van Meuwen enabled me to make my Lavender Walk on a budget, but now I am going to take cuttings of a specific variety to replant it exactly the way I would like it. That's going to take a couple of years, or three, to build up stock though ...