Lavender

My wife has recently expressed an interest in having lavender somewhere in the garden. At the moment I can't see how it would fit into my plans. After a bit of thought, one possibility is this.



At some point I intend to cut away a channel of grass and plant up with seasonal plants. It has been suggested before that I could plant a low hedge here. That's not the look I was after but I can adapt my plans if needs be.

If I did plant a lavender hedge, is there any way of maintaining some seasonal colour? I was hoping for some bright colours in there throughout the seasons.

Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.



G.

 

Your wife has good taste Gary......if possible, lavendar should be in every garden; if you can provide sharp drainage and sunshine and it is pruned every year after flowering, it will last for years. Perfect for edging that path
"Seasonal colour"? A lavendar hedge provides silver green evergreen foliage, lovely coloured new growth and magnificent billowing scented blue flowers in summer. It provides aromatic tactile foliage to enjoy every time you walk that path. The best, in my opinion, is Grosso. I would not spoil it with added colour. More is less in this instance I think. My own lavendar hedge.....now have another....is attractive all year round; clipped tight now for a neat edging appearance.

 

I once bought lengths of plastic edging to keep this channel open with the minimum of maintenance. I guess with a hedge there I would need to worry too much about maintaining a neat edge.

I see that grosso grows up to about 3 ft high. That seems a bit big for that area.

G.

 

Absolutely agree with @Verdun and Mrs Jack. Plus it’s evergreen and looks good all winter as well as being an excellent wildlife plant.

 

3' including when it flowers perhaps but not a big bulky plant at all.
Go on Gary....it will look superb there and classy. Munstead or Hidcote, whatever you think. Most anything you plant there will approach 3' anyway; anything smaller will look inadequate
A good time now too to buy lavendar....bought as young plants they will grow fast at this time of year and you should get them cheap, esp if you haggle a little

 

Hidcote is a nice dark purple colour but I prefer the common augustofolia. It makes a really nice bushy mound and the bees seem to prefer it.

 

If I've counted right I have 11 2ft/60cm slabs. I guess I would need 1 plant per square. I have looked on line and multiple buys are bigger than I would need. Individual plants seem too expensive to buy in multiples. I will have to carry on looking into it.

It wasn't a job I was wanting to do yet. The rest of the garden is a plantless mudbath. I'm reluctant to create another one. I would have to guarantee that I could complete the whole job from scratch in a day or two. The baby plants would also have to be boisterous animal hardy.

G.

 

Best to be sure, get ideas etc.
Why not buy one plant and take cuttings or cadge cuttings from someone who grows lavendar? Take cuttings in summer, they root quickly, and grow them on for yourself

 

my neighbor, not far from me, raises it to sell. passing by her farm I can see a hill of rows and rows of them, about 30 rows. they seem to always look good even in the winter. I have been in her little shop to purchase wonderful smelling lavender oils she makes from them, and a gather of lavender for a vase.

 

Van Meuwen are currently doing 12 x lavender hidcote plug plants for £7.98 or 24 for £14.96. Height: 60cm (24"). Spread: 75cm (30").

Lavender hidcote is ideal for a border edge, flanking pathways or grown as specimens in borders or pots. If growing in pots it always gives you the option of bringing inside during the colder months.

For border edge or hedge do not plant closer together than 25cm (1 foot) – best to look at 3-4 plants per metre – think ideally 15 plants will cover 4 metres.

 

Yep but flowering height will still be a lot more than 60cm too but without the exuberance of Grosso. I plant lavendar about 40cm apart.

 

I have put a plan in place. I will come back to it when I get everything together. Will plug plants be strong enough to plant outside?

G.

 

No, you will need to bring them on in the greenhouse until they are big/strong enough to go outside.

 

Never good or sensible to plant any plugs outside; they will have been cossetted indoors in a warm, benign environment so will need hardening off for a couple of weeks. They should be potted into 9cm pots, brought along indoors or under cover.

 

Well that's burned a hole through my plans. Last night I bought 6 plug plants of Hidcote on eBay for £3.99 (free p+p). I intended to grow a mini hedge in a trough for now and then plant it out properly in the autumn. If I liked what I saw, I was going to do the same thing next year and add to the length. In the meantime I can still plant spring bulbs (I'm thinking maybe anemone de caen) at either end.

I don't have a greenhouse (unless I can find another cover for mine) and I have nowhere indoors either. The best I have is space in one of the sheds.

G.