dead lavender

[tracy]

hi there i had a lovely lavender that i have had for nearly 2 years last week i took off the faded flowers and this morning i have gone into the garden and its completly dead ...the whole thing not just a few flowers
have i done something wrong or is this normal ? do they normally do this
has anyone any idea what might have happened so i can prevent it happening again cheers tracy

[piskieinboots]

this does sound odd - lavendar is a pretty tough cookie usually. Cutting the faded flowers off only enhances the bush, I can't see how it would kill it.

Has something accidentally got sprayed over it? Have any dogs sprayed it?

Disease
Shab is the only killer disease. It was this that wiped out the old lavender fields in southern England. Spores of Phoma lavandula appear on the stems as minute black spots and cause the flower stalks to corkscrew and turn brown. Then parts of the bush die. There is no cure for shab, so if it does appear it is best to get rid of the plant completely. Most modern hybrids are resistant to shab, but ‘Munstead’ and occasionally ‘Loddon Pink’ are susceptible.

If a bush has died, it may be because of a hard frost, or because of the unwelcome attentions of dogs.

[tracy]

not dogs as they are in the house but do have 4 cats could that be it !! but lavender is next to chives and thyme and not affected also no black spores help.......

[rustylady]

Lavender hates being waterlogged - what are the soil conditions like? I'm assuming they're all in the ground, not in pots. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[piskieinboots]

I guess it could be cat pee - are they peeing around it?

I agree with rustylady, lavendar hate hate hate waterlogging - I never ever water my lavendar that are in the ground, if they were pot planted I would - but very sparingly

[tracy]

definately not water logged as we are still in our summer and the drippers are timed to once a day ,i havnt actually seen the cats pee on it so i have no idea cant understand how it could live so long then die so quick without affecting my other herbs