Texas Gardening: Lavender.............what's the trick?, 1 by maggiemoo

maggiemoo wrote:
I think Magnolia is about as humid as Conroe, which is very humid (at least when we aren't in the worst drought in 50 years.) I read - was it in the Houston Chronicle, or at The Arbor Gate? - that Goodwin Creek is one of the best lavenders for our humid climate. Last spring I planted four types or lavender, all in pots to insure really good drainage: Spanish, Goodwin Creek, Gray Form, and Fern Leaf. The Spanish was the first one planted, did really well, then suddenly up and died, but I really think it's because of the drought. I wasn't really aware at the time of how extremely dry we were! Throughout the summer the others did fine, about as you'd expect for the first year's growth. Some flowers, but not an over abundance. This winter has certainly been weird weather, and my Fern Leaf has been blooming its head off for about 4 weeks now! The Goodwin Creek has retained the best shape, and now has flower buds. Gray Form is looking alright, it will be interesting to see what it does this year.

Some people in the Chapel Hill area (near Brenham) have started a lavender farm. A friend and I went to see them last July, talked to one of the owners for a while. It was their second summer for the plants and she said it really takes two to three years for the plants to really start producing. They are really in a wetter climate than where most lavender is grown, and they had to do a lot of different things to be sure there was plenty of drainage for the plants.

Here is my Goodwin Creek, newly planted in a chimney flu (I got the idea from Arbor Gate in Tomball.) It's in full sun.