WHEN DO YOU PLANT LAVENDER?

When do you plant lavender?

Strictly speaking, if you have purchased a pot grown lavender that has been kicking around your local plant retailer for a decent length of time, then you can plant your cherished shrub at any time of year - so long as the ground isn't so cold you can't dig a hole into it.

So soft and lovely lavender - not hardy!

Unfortunately, life isn't that simple. Why? Because come the spring - when most people want to start getting on in the garden - there is still the very real risk of overnight frosts.

Now, lavender are pretty hardy when planted into free draining soil, and clearly I have just said that - physical barriers aside - they can be planted outside at any time of year. But here lies the problem.

Lavenders are undeniable gorgeous when they are sold to you as a soft, dense and fluffy mound of succulent, bluish-white foliage. They are only a few pounds a pot and given a bit of sun you can sell 'Danish trolleys' full of them over a decent weekend - as I have done so many times in the past.

To get this lovely fluffy look, Mediterranean growers produce pot lavender under the protection of glass, and as such have not been hardened off. So put these plants outside and they are going to receive a nasty, cold shock. Drying winds and frost damage will knock them back severely. Get it completely wrong and you can lose the plant altogether!

You have one of three choices

1. Harden them off for a week or so before you plant your pot lavender into its final position
2. Buy your pot lavender once the threat of frost has past.
3. Buy some of last years stock that has already hardened off. It won't look as pretty, but at least it won't get damaged by late frosts.

For related articles click onto the following links:
GROW LAVENDER SEED
HOW TO CONTROL CUCKOO SPIT ON LAVENDER
How to Grow the Sago Palm from Seed
HOW TO GROW LAVENDER FROM SEED
HOW TO GROW THE SNOWBERRY - Symphoricarpos albus
HOW TO PROPAGATE LAVENDER FROM CUTTINGS
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WHY HAS MY LAVENDER DIED?
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