Lavender

[Helgalush]

Hi

I planted some lavender in my front garden border around about last October, together with some other herbs and spring bulbs.

My front garden is East/South East facing so gets lots of lovely morning - noon sunshine.

All the herbs and bulbs have thrived, but one variety of lavender has gone very grey and dried out. It looks really as though it is dead apart from one or two stems. Unfortunately I bought it from a flower shop and I dont know the variety. But it is a tall woody type that looks a bit like rosemary, albeit with paler leaves. The flowers were lilac-pink.

I pruned the flowers off about 6 weeks ago...the flowers had kept their colour all over our cold winter but finally looked dead around January - I wasnt very quick with the pruning! Since then it hasnt really come back to life - there are about 2-3 green stems on each plant - the rest look withered. It is quite arid and sunny there and everything else is thriving - thinking that lavender likes quite hot and dry conditions I thought it would survive quite happily but its looking very unhappy right now!

Any advice on what I should do, please?

Thank you

Helen

[sarraceniac]

Lavender can be funny (funny peculiar not funny ha-ha). I have a couple of them and one regularly dies down then kicks back in. I'd be tempted just to wait. You may be lucky.

[Nicos]

I was cutting mine back a bit shorter last weekend- and chopped off some of the 'dead' looking stems- only to find they were still green inside
Other stems had new growth appearing so I presumed those stems were dead.

I'll be leaving mine a couple more weeks to see that they do....

...bythe way I think you are supposed to cut hard back immediately after flowering for the plants to 'bulk up' and be healthier.So far I've cut back a bit after flowering- and then a bit more now- but I'm not so good with flowers and lavender is pretty new to me.

I think it also depends on the variety too after all it grows wild in the south of France- and that's never cut back but thrives!

Is someone able to explain a bit more about pruning lavender please whilst we're talking about the care of these plants??? Ta!!

[Two_Sheds]

never cut into old wood with lavender. don't prune in the first year; thereafter cut back in the autumn after flowering

they don't need watering: at all (unless in pots, and then do it sparingly)

[piskieinboots]

...and if you have clay soil they will struggle - work some grit in around the roots

[Lovage]

There are many species and varieties of lavender and they vary in hardiness.
Sounds to me like you had one of the French lavenders - did it have a different flower, somewhat like a bumblebee? These are nowhere near as hardy - I have lost quite a few last winter.

[Helgalush]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

At the time when I noticed they were withering and that the flowers had gone very grey and delicate, I did a few internet searches but there was a lot of conflicting advice about different varieties. I went with the one that I thought was nearest to my variety which said to just prune a little after flowering and take the dead flowers off. Which I did, albeit probably 2 months too late!

Its lovely and dry out the front so I thought it would be quite good conditions for lavender - I thought it might be similar to what rosemary requires and the rosemary is thriving.

Here is a link to what I think is fairly close to my type of lavender - although with pinkier flowers

http://images.mooseyscountrygarden.c...ender-bush.jpg

I have a different type of lavender also which is thriving in the same bit.... like this one:

http://inadvertentgardener.files.wor...nder060521.jpg

Maybe the withered one is just not a very hardy type . I'll give it another month and then I might replace them with a different type of lavender.

Two Sheds - unfortunately it is its first year, as far as I know, so I may have ruined it

Thanks
Helen

[Helgalush]

This is a closer example to the one I am talking about:

http://www.public-domain-image.com/s...background.jpg

[Lovage]

It looks like a variety of French Lavender, L.stoechas which is definately not as hardy as 'ordinary' lavenders. it has been widely sold of recent years because of the different flowers and the long flowering season but it really needs a sheltered position to survive even average winters

[Fernw]

Yes it looks like my French lavender which I have lost this year too and it was really lovely flowering last year. Alongside it the hardier lavender is doing just great. We had snow lying really deep for six weeks here in Scotland and then more snow at Easter so it's not surprising I suppose. It's the hardest winter we've had in the 16 years we've lived here and I've lost a few things that normally survive the winter.

I normally trim my lavender flowers after flowering but as has been said not into the old wood. The French lavender went on flowering for ages and I didn't get round to trimming it but hoped it would give it some protection anyway but sadly not.

[Helgalush]

Thanks for identifying it for me. It certainly does seem to not be a very hardy kind. And I am not that surprised I guess given the prolonged very cold spell we had.

Ho hum. I havent got time to replace them in the next few weeks anyway so you never know, there could be a miracle and they may come back to life...but if not then I think I will be replacing them with a hardier variety...I'd love to have that lovely lavender smell as I come down my path....is there any hardy variety that has a lovely scent you could recommend?

Thanks for the help.

Helen

[northepaul]

I have both those sort of lavender, and they sit quite contentedly thriving away in my north facing, acidic clay front garden. The French one survived the snow and everything.
Its tough stuff...so maybe something is killing it?

[Helgalush]

Well well well, my French lavender has come back to life!!! I have those lovely purpley/pinky heads coming out lovely, and plenty of green stems - though some of the ones that have withered are still withered so maybe I ought to cut those back to encourage new ones to come through. Anyone know what time of year I ought to prune?

Thank you.