Hi, I know I saw a thread somewhere... can someone help me find out how to dry lavender? I have a beautiful hidcorte lavender and winter is coming... I have 2 french lavender that I am bringing inside for the winter hopefully they will survive our winter! today I cut all the flowers,,,,
The white french lavender
You had flowers today??? I'm jealous. Mine stopped blooming at least a month ago, and that was their second flush. A weak one.
I have a big ol' ziplock bag of dried lavender from pruning 2 years ago. I don't remember how I dried it, though I think it was perhaps spread out on newspaper in the basement (cool and dim). I've got basil, parsley and mint hanging by their stems in bunches to dry this year. I think I'd probably do the same with lavender, though what I have seems fine. I just don't know what I want to do with it. :)
w
hi, can I just cut short ??? how much should I leave for next year???
You don't want to cut it all the way down. I'm no expert, but I believe you just cut the new growth, maybe a teensy bit into the old. I know I saw another thread about pruning lavender, but I don't have a moment right now to search. But there's good info here on the site (somewhere). :)
w
Yes, we've talked about this before, but I'm not finding the thread either....
Don't prune now! There's not enough time for the cut tips to recover before cold comes, and your plant could be badly damaged. I guess you could prune the french lavenders that you're taking into the house... I've never overwintered any inside, so I don't know.
DeBaggio says best time to prune lavender is early spring, just before new growth starts (or in practical terms, prune when you see the first bits of new growth). You can also prune in summer after flowering. Flower stalks can be cut all the way back, and I like to dry them by bundling them together and hanging them upside down. You also want to prune to shape your lavender and encourage branching by cutting down into the foliage. Don't take off more than 1/4 to 1/3 of a stem. Even just taking the tips from stems of a small lavender is good, as this will encourage the stems to branch and produce a bushier plant.
I didn't prune mine this year, and I definitely need to get out there next March and give them a good whack! :-)
Thanks so much... I just took the flowers and I will leave the plant alone! Next year I am going to plant a lot of lavender... I am going to a place in Maine called Green Mountain Transplant and get 72 plants and give it a try... it's 55cents each and it comes in flats of 72 plants... I think is better than try to start from seeds...
thanks for help!
Sounds like a deal! I hope those little plugs do well for you. I'd suggest potting them on for a while, maybe planting out once their roots have filled a 4 inch pot... I'm sure the nursery will be able to give you some good advice about them.
Lots of lavender varieties won't come true from seeds, I believe, and are often propagated from cuttings.... I think several people have posted about having trouble starting lavender seeds, although I'm sure there are folks who have done it successfully. At that price, I'd go for the little plants!
To help you envision the future of your little plants, here's a photo of the lavender "hedge" along my driveway. (L. grosso, aka "Fat Spike") It was even fuller this year!
oh boy, that;s gorgeous... that's what I have in mind!!!!
I am going to try the little plants... I hope that by next spring I sell my condo so I have some money for my new garden... I have to try seeds ,... just to see if they come out... I am going to try wintersow... I like a challenge!
That is gorgeous! Mine is a work in progress. I have older plants which are doing well, but couldn't afford to buy more gallon sized plants this year. So curving along the top to the right are the rest, which were 2 inch potted plants this year. I haven't finished edging the border with bricks, and you might see a few weeds... :)
w
Thanks for the compliments... that lavender hedge is one of my favorite things in our yard!
Those beautiful little plants will get big in no time! Mine started out as 4 inch pots from DeBaggio's, and they've been in for 4 years. The first year, I didn't even let them bloom, just kept pinching the tips so they'd get bigger and bushier. They've got good drainage because we scooped out the clay next to the driveway (I bribed the construction guy with homemade cookies) and put some topsoil down, essentially on top of the layer of chunky gravel that was put down for the driveway (they were over-generous with it... it goes halfway across the front yard, for cryin' out loud). Following Tom DeBaggio's suggestions, I added some lime to the soil and mulched them with a couple inches of pea gravel. There's English Thyme between the lavender plants, which was especially nice as a filler before the plants grew up.
Dear People,
I have two lavenders...a French lavender (two feet high) and a Spanish lavender (approx 18 inches high). They are about eight inches apart from each other. What can I plant as a filler between them? The lavenders are about three years old now.
The reason that I am asking is because I saw the post about filling between lavenders with English Thyme. Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Chuck
It depends on the effect you want... I liked the fairly subtle contrast with the greener color and different foliage of the English Thyme (some of which is Lemon Thyme, for a nice additional fragrance note). If you're looking for similar color/texture in a low growing plant, you might consider one of the dwarf dianthus, or perhaps carpet phlox. I do think lower plants are a good idea so the lavender doesn't feel crowded (not crowding also helps keep the crown nice and dry and airy, which lavender appreciates).
Lavenders are nice in a mixed landscape border, I think, so the possibilities for companion plants are endless. I'd love to see what combinations other people have used!
Both my lavenders have silver toned leaves. The French Lavender (nurseries don't suggest English Lavenders here because of the climate) is blooming right now. This is really great because the bees have started coming back. We were told last week at a workshop on Landscaping that there is a shortage of bees in Riverside County right now due to a parasite.
My lavenders are placed a small flower bed in my backyard. Up until now I have tried different perennials to plant between them but they always seem to die off. I guess they don't get enough sun.
Does anyone know of a "not-so popular" annual to plant between the two lavenders? I have been experimenting with annuals as fillers for the past two years. The only part of my garden that I haven't been even remotely successful is between the lavenders.
Critterologist, your the lavenders you have planted along your entryway are really beautiful. It encouraged me to realize that there are so many ways to go in Landscaping.
Thanks again,
Chuck
It's not an annual, but you might consider Lamium... it's tolerant of some shade, I believe. I planted a few little L. 'Orchid Frost' between my irises this spring, and they really took off!
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31503/index.html
One of my favorite annuals for light shade are the double impatiens, like 'Rose Parade'. If you're interested in something taller that would reseed itself, you might consider Balsam Impatiens, an old-fashioned flower that I really like. Although it does reseed with abandon, the seedlings are very easy to pull out from where you don't want them. Mine froze this year before maturing their seedpods, but I have seeds (mixed colors) from last year if you want to try some.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/156/index.html
OK, Chuck has heard enough of my suggestions... Somebody else tell us what you plant with your lavender! :-)
Hi Chuck, I love Marigolds and Zinnias.. you could get ivory marigolds ... how about calendulas??? I think yellow is a great collor to go with the lavender.
here is another zinnia .. or even Cosmos
Thanks Kassia and Critterologist,
I really appreciate the suggestions. I will try to make a place in my garden for one or two of all the plants.
Critterologist,
Is Lamium like English Ivy? The photos online look similar.
Kassia,
The super benefit of zinnias here is that they live through one of our grueling summers.
Thanks again,
Chuck
Lamium has a similar sprawling habit to ivy, maybe, but it doesn't seem to be a climber, and the leaves are quite different (not shiny)... I think it could be used similarly to ivy as a ground cover with less risk of it becoming uncontrollable like kudzu.
