Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Lavender

Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
in Plants
I know that there are various types of Lavender, and I can recognize French knot when it is in flower.  However these two are baffling me - I think one might be Hidcote but can anyone name the two.  One has been pruned and is fairly neat the other is woody and needs trimming but I am concerned that I may cut at the wrong time and how far should I cut it?Both these lavenders have attracted bees, and I would highly recommend them as ideal pot plants, although they tend to only last me a couple of years before they become too woody.

Posts

  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Thanks for the advice Philippa, and I will prune the second lavender in the Spring, I actually have four of them in pots at the moment and they have attracted plenty of bees this year.  My mother had a dozen or so lavender shrubs growing along the front garden path, many years ago.  As far as I remember she only replaced them once in 18 years - we now live in a throwaway society, nothing lasts for long these days does it.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    If you prune them correctly and grow them well, lavenders can last a very long time.  The trick is to prune back immediately flowering finishes, cutting back the entire flowering stem just into the foliage.   Never cut back to bare wood as it doesn't regenerate.    Having said that, in our Belgian garden we would sometimes leave the pruning till spring because having the long flower stalks protects the heart of the plant from the worst frosts.   That did mean we had hundreds of babies self-seeding in the gravel below.

    You could have a go at regenerating the ones in teh second pot by moving them to a bigger pot with fresh compost - they like it well drained and alkaline so go for John Innes loam type compost with added grit, not multi-purpose or Levington's.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Yes, that certainly would be worthwhile Obelixx because we have 4 of the second variety.  I did put them in poor soil with some sand and grit.  We are fairly mild here, but do have some cold winds and the risk of a few snowy or frosty days over the winter.  Are you suggesting that we repot now but wait until the worst of the cold weather is over or do both in very early Spring?

Sign In or Register to comment.