I planted 4 different types of lavender plants about a month ago, nice healthy specimens from a nursery. Two of them, the French lavendula dentata, and the Spanish lavendula stoechas, have a few nice blooms on them which I'd like to pick to dry. Stupid question, but if I pick these few blooms, will these young plants produce more, or should I leave them alone? I don't want to harm their production, considering these are new plants; they're doing SO well, I hate to hurt them.
When to pick blooms on a new lavender plant?
I have Hidcote and Munstead lavender ( different climate ) but it hasn't hurt them at all to cut and dry the flower stems. I'm not sure on other kinds. Mine seem to like being cut and sometimes I get a second blooming season in the fall. Save some of the flowers for the bees!
Thanks Roybird! I really planted it FOR the bees, I love to see them happy, and they are!!! I don't have all that many blossoms so I hate to pick them and lose my bees!!
They will definitely produce more blooms. It will also encourage a denser, more compact growth habit. That is very important for a young lavender plant. I have learned from experience. If you don't prune them when they are young (the first year) they will become "wild looking" the second year with not much growth from the middle. The growth will be more outward, and not from the middle of the plant.
With my new lavender plants this year I am concentrating on pruning at the expense of flowers. I think this will pay off big time next year, and I will have a healthier more compact lavender plant!
I grow Grosso, Jean Davis, Munstead, and Provence in zone 6B. I love them all! You should see the harvest I just had today after some major pruning on second year plants!
Good luck with your lavender!
Thanks very much Ericmg01, sounds like good advice, and I will do just that. I'm very pleased so far with all of my lavenders, they're doing better than I'd thought they would, based on what I've read about growing lavender in this humid climate. Of course, it IS only early June....
Ericmg01, can you advise me about drying lavender ? I have a bunch of beautiful lavender munsted that are covered with blooms but I am not sure what I have done wrong in the past but I get dehydrated floppy stalks so I am reluctent to cut them the flowers well formed , colored and are just about to pop open
help ! Laura
Laura, after I cut the stalks, I tie them up in small bunches and hang them upside down to dry. They get dehydrated, which is what you want, but they don't flop once they dry. Hopefully Ericmg01 will chime in and tell us his method......., but this is the way my mom always did it, and it works for me!
What I do is cut the blooms off right before, or during, peak bloom. Then I bundle several together in a bunch, and lay them on newspaper in a card board open box. I have a screened in patio, so here they don't get too much sun or heat. Just the right conditions for drying lavender. So far this method has worked for me.
The other method that was mentioned above also sounds practical, so give either one a shot. Good luck this year. I hope whichever you choose works out, and you have a lot of dried lavender to enjoy!!!
thanks you guys. I took a chance and picked it today I layed it on those flat boxes that you get at garden centers when you buy several plants to carry them in they have sort of wide screen holes in them and are plastic any way I cut lots of lavender and layered them loosely . I filled three boxes and put them in an upstairs closet to dry. we will see how they come out I am hopefull! : )
laura
YIKES Laura, you have a LOT of lavender, lucky you!!!!! I only have four plants, two of which are blooming. We just moved south from CT in September and I didn't know how lavender would do down here. I'm so envious of your haul! And Eric, sounds like you have a ton too!!!! What will ya'll be doing with it once it's dried? I make sachets, and I also make what I call Face Tea; I steep it in a teapot with rosepetals, or calendula blossoms or elder blossoms, and wash my face with it. It makes washing your face something to really look forward to!!
I've been picking lavender every morning for about an hour or so for what seems like the last 3 weeks! I hang it upside down in small bunches to dry. I make sachets with it and also use it in wreaths. I love the stuff. I am never quite sure if it is better to cut it right before the flowers open completely or when they are. Probably depends on the type. The taller ones are easier to pick, I'll say that! But the shorter ones seem to have better color.
I just love the plant, and so do the bees!!! I usually let the flowers dry up on the plant, and then prune them off later in the season. This is the first year I tried drying it. I just have to have it in the garden. It smells so good when it rains out! And luckily it does okay here in my clay soil. I did some major pruning this spring on old wood contrary to what I read. And the plants have done just fine. The shape was horrible, and this was the only way I could reshape the plants. Hopefully they will overwinter okay.
mine have been so weird they all seem to have a different shape? some died to the ground and came back some have a perfect mound shape and some look like abstract art ! I love it too and I have to have it in the garden it is sort of peaceful
laura
I dry mine upside down in bunches, too. It lasts forever.(Almost)
I love my lavender, and so does my minature dachshund! When I am out working in the garden and she is with me, I find her munching on it until I give her a scolding! But as soon as I turn my back, there she goes again! I guess she likes herbs too. Next year, I will plant more and some for her.
I love it by the walkway, as you can smell it as you brush by.
Has anyone tried 'Kew Red'? It has such cute, pinkie-colored flowers and the smell of the flowers has a fruity undertone to it. It is one of my favorites now, but it is only the first year I have grown it.
RatherB
I havn't seen that one. Sounds pretty. Dachshunds are so cute! She doesn't dig your plants up? I heard they like to dig.
Yes, she will dig, but never my plants, thankfully. But she loves to eat them and chew on them! Maybe she is part rabbit! Hee Heee.
The best time to harvest the flowers is right before they are ready to bloom, you'll get the best fragrance that way.
That's what I'd heard. I like to have some later ones, too, for the color.
Hope y'all don't mind me getting in on the discussion but you all seem knowledgeable about lavenders (I'm not!) and I need advice! We recently moved into this house and there is French lavender growing in my front yard. It bloomed beautifully this spring/early summer but now it is not blooming and I wondered, should I cut it back? At least deadhead the dead flowers? Will it bloom again if I do? It is in full sun and gets a daily drink from the sprinklers but wonder if that is enough and should I hand-water? Lots of questions I know but I love lavenders and would appreciate any tips! Thanks, Lucia
I'm sorry I really don't know much about French lavender except it likes a warmer climate. My guess is that you should cut off the dead blooms, stems and flowers. I'll be interested to hear from someone who does know this variety.
Lavender has got to be my favorite. It is best to pick the flower stems when they first open. Hang upside down to dry. Prune faded flowers, and straggly plants in late fall. I don't treat my French lavender any different than the other varieties. I wouldn't hesitate to cut back your French lavender about 2/3's its size.
Roybird and Tlili, thanks for the advice! I'll give it a good pruning tomorrow a.m.
Lucia
Lucia, be real careful about overwatering too! I found out the hard way, back in CT, when I'd water my lavender every day with the rest of my flowers. It soon turned all brown and very dead in the center, and the rest followed after a while; it didn't last the whole season. Here in SC I'm being very careful and not watering it at all unless we go thru a real dry spell, and then I give it a minute amount now and then. And it's thriving, I'm so happy to say, all four varieties!
They must love dry weather or they wouldn't do so well here. I was afraid our deep, heavy snow last winter would ruin them but they pulled through nicely altho I did cut them back alot early this spring. tough plants.
thea611 and Roybird, I appreciate the tips! I have lived in the Southeast (including Beaufort, SC for several years--where is Manning?) and, most recently, Japan, for most of my life and am so used to humidity and things never really drying out that here in central California, where it is so very hot and dry, I am definitely inclined to overwater! Have just planted some English lavender in pots so your advice is timely. . .thanks again! Lucia
Hi Lucia, Manning is about 90 minutes north west of Beaufort, just a little town, in Clarendon County. My goodness, you've travelled around, how interesting!! Up until last September, I'd always lived in CT except for a few years in NYC and a few in Chicago. We checked out Beaufort when we first decided to get away from our New England winters for good; what a lovely town it is, but getting too crowded! We looked at an herb garden there with fabulous huge rosemary and lavender plants, in pots. I could NEVER grow them well in CT, it's a treat to have them do well in SC!!!
We lived in Beaufort in the mid-90s and again in 2002-2004 and we loved it, but you are right -- definitely getting busier and more crowded! Have been monitoring my watering very carefully and so far my potted lavender looks good -- it's lasted a whole month under my inexpert care!! Will it bloom this year or not until spring? They are fairly young plants and don't know how fast lavender grows.
I just wanted to add what thea had to say about overwatering...they do prefer it drier when they have become established. I don't do this, but I have read and heard in conferences that white stones for mulch are preferred to the bark mulch. I use the bark mulch, but on the lean side to match the surrounding plantings. Maybe others can comment that may have done this.
RatherB
I used white peastone around my plants, because I was afraid pine straw or bark mulch might lend too much acidity to the soil. Lavender prefers a sweeter soil. I also scratched in a little lime around the plants at the beginning of the growing season. My lavender is doing so well, I'm shocked! I never had much luck in CT (now I realize one mistake was I was watering it along with all of the surrounding plants all the time, and it just doesn't like much water) and I'd heard that it doesn't do well in the humid south, but my plants are the best I've ever had!!!!
There you go...the white stones DO help in growing lavender! It's true! Thea, I may go out and get some white pea gravel for mine this weekend! The only reason I haven't was to keep the mulch consistent with the surrounding flowers. You may have convinced me otherwise!
RatherB
I wasn't sure I would like the look of two different types of mulches in the same bed, but once I did it, I really liked the way the nice white stones kind of highlight the lavender plants. And I've never had such great lavender plants, so I know I did the right thing!!!
For the first time this summer my container lavender actually wilted...we've had a hot spell this week. I use some self watering pots I got at Walmart and I love em...I only water every ten days or so and the lavender...even less! All I've used is bone meal this year and she had quadrupled in size! Started out the season a little woody in the middle because of lack of pruning, but she has filled in just beautifully. I've been harvesting the buds as they are becoming ready and the scent...amazing. Only one plant so I only have about 2 tablespoons worth so far, but the scent is so strong I'm sure I'll get a nice extract out of it. This bush has become my newest favorite child...