Lavender anyone?

Dunkinjean 7/10/2010, 2:43 pm

I love lavender plants but have had NO luck with them.

I have tried growing them outside and inside.

My son and wife sent me a kit of 3 aromatherapy seeds. I planted each type of seeds (lemon balm, chamomile and LAVENDER) into the small ceramic container for each as directed with the soil mix they provided.

The lemon balm is doing fine, the chamomile ok, the lavender has about 10 tiny thin plants with one set of leaves - and then stopped growing.

See pic below. - Lavender on the right
Lavender anyone? Aromat10

Any suggestions would greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Happy Gardening Everyone....

Lavender Debs 7/10/2010, 2:58 pm

Awww, how sad! My suggestion is to plant an African violet in the pretty little pot (it is a VERY pretty set of pots), and come visit Washington for our lavender festival. Bless you sweetie! The pot is too little for lavender. Like tarragon, it is better propagated from a plant then seed.
Lavender anyone? July_810

Hugs!

1chichi 7/10/2010, 4:09 pm

[quote="Dunkinjean"]
small ceramic container for each as directed with the soil mix they provided.

the lavender has about 10 tiny thin plants with one set of leaves - and then stopped growing.
Any suggestions would greatly appreciated.

quote]
I am also interested in lavender. I just bought a small plant for about $3.00 and put it in a pot with a little mint plant.
Both are in the medium size plastic pot with a few rocks and torn up styrofoam cup for good drainage. It has a good potting soil mix in there too. I put the pot under a shade tree. I will gradually move it to a sunnier location and pray for it.
By Fall,I would like to make lavender ice cream. It seems like it's going to be a challenge to keep it alive. Lavender anyone? Icon_cat

Here is a link with a bit of info. http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm

Lavender Debs 7/10/2010, 5:59 pm

That is interesting chi, is it working well having the mint and lavender together? In the PNW one thrives in moist, cool shade and one in somewhat dry, sunny areas and seems to enjoy hot feet. That is kewl if you have made them happy sisters.

I have been experimenting with different sizes and types of Lavenders. I have two that have been in large plastic pots for a number of years. They do not live as long in containers as they do in the ground BUT in the ground they want a dryish, somewhat sandy medium. Even so, mine are in OLD cheap potting soil. I have been getting a nice harvest every year. This year was not the best, it was SO cold and wet in the PNW all spring. But I also tend to clean up the soil in the pot each spring, removing (or at least turning) the layer of moss that wants to grow on the soil over winter and adding a layer of peat. I forgot that step this year because I was so into starting my SFG. Usually the pinks have a flavor that I adore. I have a very petite pink, one I think might be nice as a long term pot dweller (Miss Katherine) that I started last summer. For such a small plant it had good size flowers but it was more perfumey, not as much of a camphor balance as I like for savory dishes. It should be fine for sugar and sweets. (Just took a sniff of the dry bouquet, the scent is more balanced now that it is dry).

I have a pink “Jean Davis” (mentioned in your link) that is fine for baking. I like pink “Melissa” a little more than I do JeanD.

Munstead will survive any dopy thing I do to it (except it doesn’t like pot-life) A two inch pot eventually spread to cover a three foot area. Because I didn’t know any better, I put it under a row of thick evergreens in the corner of my first herb garden. The only thing they had going for them was that the soil was nearly pure sand, an old river flood plain before the river changed course. Provence is pretty purple with classic French lavender flavor but does not handle cool moist weather the way munstead does. Munstead has a bit of a lavender gray bud on olive green foliage. Not real pretty next to Provence but quite reliable with classic scent and good flavor. For a nice dark purple and compact size, Hidcote is pretty and once established, it is a heavy producer. I had a hidcote living in a large pot for a few years and it did fine but is far happier in the garden. The best pink lemonade is a simple mix of fresh lemon juice with muddled peel and a simple suryp made with hidcote lavender. The hidcote tints the syrup (and lemonade) a nice deep pink. (I think lemon, lavender and a touch of sugar are a perfect combination and should be used as often as possible in as many ways as you can think of )
Lavender anyone? July_811

A bundle of Miss Kathreine against a stand of Hidcote.

Deborah…. Who just finished off a batch of wild blackberry-lavender ice-cream. Ummmmm

Dunkinjean 7/10/2010, 6:05 pm

Lavender Debs & 1chichi:

Thank you both for the Lavender info.

Unfortunately I will not be in the state of Washington anytime soon. I did hear about how well Lavender grows there and wish I could be there!

You lavender looks beautiful!!

I just read in our paper a few weeks ago that a woman in southern NJ is growing Lavender and is having success with it. I will have to check into that further.

I also thought Lavender is better grown from a plant but since this was a gift I was hoping it would do better.

I will try again in the future by buying a lavender plant and take special care of it.

Thank you both.

Happy Gardening Everyone....

Megan 7/11/2010, 5:22 am

Dunkinjean,

Do you ever get down to Virginia? Lavender Debs inspired me....I bought a lavender plant this from DeBaggio's and it is doing well. (DeBaggio's doesn't ship plants, though, and they are now closed for the year.)

And Debs... you are making me drool again!!! Smile

silverbug 7/11/2010, 7:39 am

I have a huge munstead now in it's 3rd year. My herbalist friend (if anyone wants a link to her site/goods, let me know; her products are AMAZING and she grows and mixes everything herself) told me that the second year of a lavender plant is when you want to harvest for lavender honey, icecream, herbs de provence, etc...It just won't produce much flower, etc...til the second year and I found that to be true. I bought my lavender from a local plant stand toward the end of season on a whim and it's been phenomenal in full sun in my herb garden. (strip against my garage. Probably a 12 inch wide area...lol)

Patty from Yorktown 7/11/2010, 8:20 am

Hi,
Lavender is a sleeper, creeper, leaper plant. The first year it doesn't do much. The second year it does not do a lot more, so you get irrated and buy an other plant and the third year it tries to take over the world. As it is an herb, they like to struggle a little. Hope this helps.

Patty from Yorktown

1chichi 7/11/2010, 9:39 am

Lavender Deb,
Thanks for all that good info!
I potted those herbs 1 week ago, and left them under a shade tree. Lavender anyone? Icon_monkey

In light of what you said about the differences, I'd better separate them.

Lavender Debs 7/11/2010, 10:51 am

Chi I was hoping they had been together for a long time and you had discovered a happy family that an old legalist like me did not consider before. My mint will survive being moved over and over.... in fact it is happier if I move it every spring. It travels to the edge of the pot. When I refresh my pots in spring I pull it out, trim it up and replant left of center in the pot.

I always put lavender in the biggest, prettiest pot I can find because it is going to be there a LONG time and will want room for her root ball. The smaller she is the better she will do. My larger plants transplant ok meaning they survive the move, but they spend a year or two pouting about it instead of putting up a nice stand of flowers. A huge pot with a 2 inch lavender will look like Charlie Brown chose a christmas tree. I like to stick in low maintenance, annual herbs and flowers to give her a fuller look, even crowd her a little bit that first year. Be careful that you do not put in perennials. Maybe you are tougher than me, I always feel guilty making them move for my lavender (I don't want them to think I favor her)
Lavender anyone? Purple10

Deborah.... going to the Sequim Lavender Festival in a few days

cansaskgard 7/11/2010, 11:24 am

I have been following this closely as I try to grow lavender every year and every year a fail... It never comes back after winter.

So, from what I have read so far I need to plant in a sandier soil in a full sun location? I am trying again with a Munstead from the store and I have a couple of Munstead I grew from seed.

I don't want to lose these and would like to know the best way to keep them this time Wink

I bought a gorgeous topiary tree like one last year and brought it inside (it was in a pot) and slowly it died... I take it from reading it may have been because of being in a pot? It was sooooo pretty....

I will succeed at this... determined.

Very Happy

Thanks!

Megan 7/11/2010, 11:31 am

Here's my baby lavender... thanks for inspiring me, Debs. The bees love it!

Lavender anyone? Photo-705482

**Theresa** 7/11/2010, 1:09 pm

I've had very good luck so far growing lavender in a three tier SFG, along with rosemary, Italian parsley, dill, and bush basil.
This garden has a variety of flowers, herbs, and vegetables.
The lavender I bought as a small plant for around 3.00, in the photo it's in the left hand corner of the garden, it has continuously bloomed since I planted it back in the spring.
Lavender anyone? Layered2-8-10

boffer 7/11/2010, 8:34 pm

I've had good luck growing my lavender on the south side of the house in good compost. And, it survives the sprinkler system OK.

Lavender anyone? 100_2417

Dunkinjean 7/11/2010, 9:28 pm

Thank you everyone for your input on Lavender.

I feel I can try again!!

I get to visit Washington, DC quite a few times a year (My youngest son lives there and is getting married in DC/Va next March).
Therefore, I will check to see where in VA the nursery is and if closeby, maybe I can sneak over there!

If not, then I know I can purchase a plant locally.

Thank you all again - I absolutely love Lavender. flower

Happy Gardening Everyone....

Megan 7/12/2010, 6:34 am

Dunkinjean wrote:
I get to visit Washington, DC quite a few times a year (My youngest son lives there and is getting married in DC/Va next March).
Therefore, I will check to see where in VA the nursery is and if closeby, maybe I can sneak over there!

It's in Chantilly, just south of Dulles. Congratulations to your son!

http://www.debaggioherbs.com/

1chichi 7/12/2010, 9:49 am

Deborah.... going to the Sequim Lavender Festival in a few days

That's a beautiful picture! Where was this pic taken?

Lavender Debs 7/12/2010, 10:38 am

That picture is from Purple Haze Lavender Farm (whose motto is, "if it weren’t for flash backs I'd have no memory at all) on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula.
Lavender anyone? Wild_f10

I think this one is at Lavender Wind Farm on Whidbey Island (Washington)

Wyldflower 7/12/2010, 11:38 am

Absolutely gorgeous, Deb!

I've got six lavender plants in my flowerbeds. I think they will do okay here (we get temps up to 100 here in summer, and down to -10 in winter). There are two types - I don't remember the specific varieties, but four are an English lavender, and two are Spanish. I put the English in the bed on the west side of the house (front) and the Spanish on the south - thinking that the greater sun exposure and residual heat from the wall of the house might be beneficial. They are small.... only have about three or four flower stalks on each plant, but I'm hoping they will grow well here.

I just LOVE your pictures and recipes!

Odd Duck 7/12/2010, 12:41 pm

Just a thought - make sure you are not overwatering. Lavender likes well-drained, rather poor soil like many herbs and definitely prefers full sun, even in the Texas heat. Mine was getting too much water in the flower bed with the more conventional flowers (even though they were also drought tolerant plants and it was getting over 6 hours of sun daily). I have some now in a 100%, all day long, FULL sun bed that is planted only with super drought tolerant Texas natives (and the lavendar) and it seems happier there than anywhere else I've put it. We'll see in another few years how it does in the longer run.

You might even consider trying it in a cactus mix in the pot? What do you think Lavender Debs?

ander217 7/12/2010, 6:47 pm

I have a French lavender that wasn't doing well in my herb bed until I sprinkled some lime in the soil. Someone told me I'd have better luck with my rosemary if I added lime, so I figured it might perk up my scrawny lavender too, and it worked. Our soil runs a little on the acid side here.

I picked some lavender flowers and dried them earlier this year and hadn't decided what to do with them. Someone gave me a recipe for making my own laundry soap, and I added them to the mix - wonderful!

**camprn** 7/12/2010, 7:22 pm

Lavender Debs wrote:I think this one is at Lavender Wind Farm on Whidbey Island (Washington)

I have relatives that operate the Captain Whidbey Inn. I often went there, via ferry, when I was very small. It is so beautiful, I loved it!

Megan 7/12/2010, 7:40 pm

I'm not sure that is the Whidbey farm. I recall it as being quite flat (unless there were more fields in back that were hidden by the trees.) Then again, maybe the "terrain" I am seeing in the photo is just the mounding of the lavender itself.

Lavender Debs 7/12/2010, 8:03 pm

How about from this angle? (I know the photographer) Does this look flatter?

Lavender anyone? Img_0010

Megan 7/12/2010, 8:06 pm

Much.

I don't recall what the house looked like... been too long, but I've been by there many times.

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