Why Can't I keep Lavender?

Hi All,

I'm making a stern effort to every time I see it buy Lavender for the garden. But it just keeps dying! I've tried it potted, in the garden borders, raised bed - what might I be doing wrong? ANybody got any good tips for growing Lavender? I'm looking to help out the bumblebees and butterflies (my friend's garden is always full of them and I'm so jealous!) plus I'm a keen baker so I'd like to make Lavender cakes with home-grown if I can, as I do so with most of my other bakes.

Any help welcome!

 

Lavender likes sandy well drained soil. It will struggle to survive on clay. Be sparing with manure or fertiliser. I find it likes to be grown hard, without much water once established.

 

Yes Lucy, I agree with Redwing

Choose the warmest, dryest spot in the garden. The hotter and drier the better. The soil must be very well drained......add grit to the planting area to help enable free drainage. Resist the urge to water as you would most other plants. Yes, grow lavender hard

Here I have two lavender hedges and they never get watered. Never fed either. They get baked. They flower beautifully and bees love them

lavendar will grow in pots.....better in the garden though. Mix plenty of grit into the compost, maybe a third, dont add fertiliser and water when planted but thereafter very sparingly. And place in full sun

 

I have the had the same problem over the years @Lucy Williams so I resorted to growing Nepta (Catmint) it is more suited to my wetter soil.

 

Nepeta is a good alternative but nothing quite like lavendar if you can grow it. Makes a neat trimmed aromatic hedge from autumn to spring, makes a billowing mass of beautifully scented flowers in summer, attracts bees galore and nothing says “summer” like lavendar

 

I can't even go near Lavender, it gives me headaches and makes me feel sick.