This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Lavender with Bay Tree in Half-Barrel - Lavender is dying!
Devonian
Posts: 176
As you can see in the photo, this was supposed to be a lush bed of light-green lavender with the bay spiralling out of it. It's been in there for about 6 months and is slowly dying off - firstly some of the lavender started to get white spots on the leaves, then they started dying from the bottom of the stem creeping upwards.
I'd love to know what we've done wrong? We potted this with normal compost (not very technical I know!) and I tried to water it regularly once I noticed them looking a bit limp.
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for replacements if lavender isn't going to work? We love both the scent and also the appearance of lavender with those lovely light green leaves.
0
Posts
Hi Devonian and welcome
Normal multi-purpose compost just won't do the job ... it's fine for growing on veggies and containers of summer bedding, but for plants in permanent planters you need a loam-based compost ... my lollipop bay is in John Innes No 3 mixed 3:1 with horticultural grit to improve the drainage.
I also wouldn't grow anything else in with my bay ... I understand the look you're trying to achieve but it's going to take a lot of maintenance and tlc. The lavender will compete with the bay for water and nourishment.
My bay is in a terracotta container of a similar size to your half barrel, raised up on feet to aid drainage, and topped off with horticultural grit ... we water it with a bucket full of water every few days from March onwards, feed it with dilute seaweed fertiliser every few weeks through the growing season and re-pot it every other year using fresh compost. (It's a two-person job
)
Hope that's helpful
Last edited: 02 August 2017 15:22:58
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Lavander needs poor soil - I would use JI No3 with a couple of handfuls of Mpc and plenty of grit mixed in for good drainage, with not too much water and it will grow happily in a terracotta pot. Why not stand 2 or 3 pots (or more!) round your half barrel and get at least a semblance of the look you want? If you choose a taller variety, such as Munstead or Twickel Purple, the plants should partly conceal the edge of the barrel. The lavender can then be watered and fed sparingly, according to its needs and not the same as the bay tree.
Last edited: 02 August 2017 17:13:04
Thanks for your replies everyone! Yes, I think I'll have to remove the lavender sadly. I think it's too far gone to recover, too.