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Are these lavender dead?

DedekindDedekind Posts: 172
in Problem solving
Sorry I am posting this here as well as in a different thread, may be getting a bit more help from a new thread.

These are French lavenders. Bought a little over a month ago, in flower. Put them outside and flowers started to fade so brought them back in and slowly tried to harden them off. But I left them under heavy rain and now they are all grey/brown (there are a couple of green leaves somewhere but they are slowly going away). 

They are back indoors on a sunny window just in case. Is there anything I can do to save them? From what I read it could be root rot. 


Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I think they have had it, I'm afraid. These are quite tender plants and should not be in flower now, so they must have been forced - kept in warm bright conditions to make them think it was summer. Putting them outside in the cold would have shocked them and possibly done the job, but the rain won't have helped.
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    French lavender is not hardy
  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    Are there any surving branches? If so might be an idea to cut all the dead ones and trim the rest down to 2 green buds and just put them outside and hope for the best now that weather is easing up.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    As  @Posy says, if they were in flower when you got them, they'll have been forced into flower very early by being grown in a protected environment. Even in a normal spring, putting them outside would have set them back a bit. 
    Keep them inside, cut back all the obviously dead stuff, and keep them somewhere bright and reasonably warm - but not a hot windowsill. That will be even worse for them when trying to recover. 
    Then just wait and see. Don't feed them, just water when they need it. They look a bit far gone, but you never know. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DedekindDedekind Posts: 172
    Thanks. So I started to cut back the grey stuff and noticed the stems inside seem to be green still. See below. 

    Should I keep on with removing all the stems or maybe wait and see if the leaves turn green again?


  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    The brown leaves and stems won’t turn green again, what’s dead is dead I’m afraid. Cut the whole thing back hard to the few surviving green leaves as suggested and cross your fingers. I personally wouldn’t have the patience, I would give up on it, buy another and harden it off slowly.  If you persist and get it back to health, I salute you!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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