Strat's Place
The Making of a Lavender Garden
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One plant we've always admired is Lavender. So .. after shoveling in around 20 cubic yards of dirt ( I always wonder where Betsy is at times like this ) we've put a Lavender bed in. We thought it would be fun to document the process as we go .. so here it is. Site Preparation... 5/24/98 .. we are fortunate in that we have a company that does a great bedding mix .. 50% screened topsoil 25% compost 25% soil conditioner. We had it delivered and formed the bed 18" high and roughly 25' x 15'. We removed a few trees to bring in more light to the area. Right now the area goes from full sun to partial shade during the day. Lavender requires VERY GOOD drainage in the soil. The disease that attacks it the most is root rot. We added 2" of PermaTill ( kind of like small rocks) to the top of the bed and tilled it in. We also added lime to the soil since here in NC our soil is fairly acid .. something Lavender doesn't like. We then selected around 5 varieties of Lavender and placed them around the bed. The tallest being in the middle and working our way out to the edge. We spaced the plants around 24" so that they would grow together. We may find that we will need to add some more plants ( currently have about 30 ) to fill in holes. Art chose his favorite ground cover, Dianthus "tiny rubies" (you can see this plant in our Plant Pictures section), as the border planting. We bought around 10 of these and divided them ( they divide really easily ) and spaced them about every 3-4 feet around the edge. The next thing ( a week later after Art's back recovered ) is to spread about an inch ( 22 bags ) of sand over the area so that sunlight will reflect and help to protect the base of the plants from mold/rot. The biggest killer of lavender. Now we simply wait for the things to start growing !!! We have 5 varieties (around 20 plants in the bed ) and will shortly catalog them in our plants listing. We "may" end up putting in some rosemary also to fill things in if needed. 8/20/98 ... to our pleasant surprise .. all of the plants have made it !!!!!!! Now (Aug) is the time for us to shear back all of the plants so that they will have a chance to start fill out during the fall and winter.
Since we're really new at this .. we'd love to hear and hints/warnings about growing Lavender .. drop us an email
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4/2/99 ... we received this wonderful letter from one of our readers and wanted to include it here ... Dee W. (outside Seattle, Wa.) writes ...... Just found your web site and it's going to be a favorite on my computer! I live in the soggy Pacific N.W., where you'd think lavender would reject all the mossy, wet conditions we constatly live in. (And my property even sits at the bottom of a hill, where tall evergreens dominate every corner!) Still, I tried it, because I love the flowers, and what the hay, they were on sale at a local nursery. Planting them in the sunniest of spots, I surrounded them with fist sized rocks about three inches from the outer edge of the plants. In this stone circle, I poured a couple of handfulls of sandbox sand and lightly worked it in the top layer of soil. I saw this done in the south of France, where the monks of a small village lived in a valley that had little sunshine. The first year they were puny little boring plants. But this past year, their second, was amazing! I clipped about 5 pounds of flower spikes and had enough to weave them into lavender wands for everyone at work! And I'm talking about plants no taller than 6 inches or so. My trick was to pinch back the flower spikes the first year. Everytime I saw them, I used my thumb nail to cut them back before they could form buds or flower. With the recommendation of a friend, I also cut my plants back by 1/3 the first fall. This year, their third, (I cut them back by a 1/3 last fall, too), they've doubled in width and are staying nicely thick and compact - not woody. I still add sand around the root base every year, just to break up the clay soil and give them a little better drainage. Using the (1/3 off) clippings, I've expanded my lavender plants extensively, using them to backdrop roses, or fill in the places between shrubs and trees. I've got them planted in some part-shaded areas and they seem to be agreeable. And the SLUGS (which dominate all Pac. N.W. gardens) don't seem to like the taste! So, for my yard, I use lavender in any place that needs a little perking up! |
| 5/9/99 ... ok .. after the first year, here's what we've got |
The Spanish variety trived over the winter, the French was so-so and the
"multifida - Jagged" variety died over the winter. As you can
see, the Dianthus around the outside is really going to town. |
closeup of the spanish lavendar .. now about 10-12 inches tall. We're going to follow the advise of Dee ( above ) in trimming this later this summer. |
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