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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Lavender

27 replies

HotnSunnyRainbowRoses · 18/04/2022 11:33

Why is this touted as such an easy low maintenance plant exactly..?

I’ve planted some English lavender and some mint plugs yesterday.
Some in a hot, baking exposed area of the garden with dry soil and some in cooler areas with looser, more compost enriched soil.

The mint is half the size of the lavender and they all look great.
The lavenders?
All are wilting severely (they were in perfect condition when planted)
I’m having to water them regularly multiple times a day.
They look awful 😡

I have bought lavender before, English and Stoechas and have some mature plants dotted around.

Every September I have to go out and chop half the plant down.
The flowers would look quite nice left over winter but you can’t do that else the plant goes woody.
Then come spring, you have to go out again and chop it down again!
Dare you forget it goes woody at the bottom and then you have to start over again with a new plant!
And that only applies to English, Stoechas is a wimp and doesn’t always come out of winter alive.

It’s reputed to be a pest repellent plant, rats hate it apparently.
They hate it so much there’s a rat burrow right next to one of mine...

There are so many plants that are genuinely easy care.
That can go in any old soil, winter hardy, drought tolerant, long flowering period, don’t need heavy pruning etc.
And yet Lavender is always recommended.
I don’t get why 🤔

OP posts:

Moochio · 18/04/2022 15:48

Lavender is sooo easy in my garden. Must depend on your soil I guess.

Isitsixoclockalready · 18/04/2022 16:14

@Moochio

Lavender is sooo easy in my garden. Must depend on your soil I guess.

I'd say that. It does pretty well for us too.

Pumperthepumper · 18/04/2022 16:18

It’s because lavender is so lovely, on a warm day here you can smell it in the air. It always grows well in my garden though, have you tried cerynthes? They grow easily and they’ve got that old-fashioned look, like a sort of bluebell.

ToliteHost · 18/04/2022 16:26

I love lavender and roses. Roses love to grow in our garden, lavenders all die. The slugs get to them.

veggiemonster · 18/04/2022 16:27

I absolutely love the smell of lavender but bees seem to love it and I’m a big baby and very scared of bees 🐝 so no lavender for me

littledrummergirl · 18/04/2022 16:30

I love lavender but it doesn't matter where in my garden I plant it, it dies.
Next time it's staying in pots.

TheNoodlesIncident · 18/04/2022 16:39

We have solid clay soil in our area.

Lavender is not a fan.

However I'd be suspicious about the roots if it's wilting and you're watering several times a day. It's a Mediterranean plant that prefers free draining, very gritty soil in full sun. It just shouldn't be responding like that, so I'd be digging them up to inspect the roots and see if there's any pests or disease there.

Chiefofstaff · 18/04/2022 16:42

I was going to say if you have clay soil lavender is not a fan of that. I can’t grow it in my garden successfully.

AlisonDonut · 18/04/2022 16:45

Did you plant it out soon after buying it? I always let plants acclimatise in their pots before planting out. Usually for a good week or so. Often they have been pampered and kept inside at night so just don't like the cool nights or winds. Also if you do have clay soil it needs gravel to be dug in otherwise the water pools on top and they don't like wet feet.

sophienelisse · 18/04/2022 17:42

I have lavender in two pots, one in shade one in the sun. They are both back this year. I don't do anything to it except water it and I remove the dead bits every spring.

countrygirl99 · 18/04/2022 17:47

I love lavender but have to grow it in pots as it hates my heavy clay.

Anomalocaris · 18/04/2022 17:52

I wonder if you're over-watering it?

I've got a lavender lined front path and it looks lovely, but when the lavender passes its best (probably next year) I'm replacing it with catmint.

bookgirl1982 · 18/04/2022 17:53

You may well be overwatering it, it should not need very much water and prefers Sandy gritty soil.

RedWingBoots · 18/04/2022 18:03

I suggest you have a nose at other people's front gardens in the local area to see if anyone is growing lavender in the soil. Then check what direction their garden faces if they are as it is likely doing a few things wrong.

I have London clay and successfully grew lavender until I pulled it out and have a monster rosemary bush.

soil. I added grit and sand to the soil and thought they would end up dying due to the clay but both did fine. In fact the rosemary turned into a monster.

froidIci · 18/04/2022 18:09

Off topic but I hope you haven’t planted the mint in the actual garden soil? It needs to go in pots otherwise it will invade and take over everything else

Original poster

HotnSunnyRainbowRoses · 18/04/2022 18:11

I don’t think I’m overwatering them.
I’m very careful to only water my lavenders (I have a few older plants) when they start wilting.
These plugs wilted dramatically and come evening hadn’t recovered as I expected.
They still look pretty rough.

Did you plant it out soon after buying it? I always let plants acclimatise in their pots before planting out
I did 😔
As soon as I opened the pack out they went.
They were plugs so small but advertised as ‘garden ready’.

OP posts:

RedWingBoots · 18/04/2022 18:18

These plugs wilted dramatically and come evening hadn’t recovered as I expected.
They still look pretty rough.

I've just noticed you said "plugs"

With both my lavender which came in 3 inch pots, I re-potted in larger pots and only after a year when they were much bigger did I put them in the ground. With the rosemary I re-potted again after year one and put it in the ground the year afterwards.

The only med herb I put straight in the ground as a plug was thyme as it was to grow in cracks in paving.

TheNoodlesIncident · 18/04/2022 18:20

@HotnSunnyRainbowRoses

I don’t think I’m overwatering them. I’m very careful to only water my lavenders (I have a few older plants) when they start wilting. These plugs wilted dramatically and come evening hadn’t recovered as I expected. They still look pretty rough.

@HotnSunnyRainbowRoses You were quite right to plant them them out immediately (as long as it wasn't frosty/frozen which I doubt), you didn't do anything wrong as your lavenders were plug plants packed up for shipping. They are supposed to be unpacked and planted asap. They should be hardened off prior to shipping and only posted when the risk of frost has passed.

I'd still have a look at their rootballs, wilting seems strange for lavender. They have evolved in a hot region and have leaves specially formulated for dry sunny areas; narrow, grey, needle-like leaves don't lose water rapidly.

My soil is heavy clay and I have lost bulbs to rotting before, even when they were planted with grit directly under and around. I've been adding organic matter and sharp sand to it to improve drainage but it's still not at a happy-lavender stage yet and probably never will.

SunshineAddict · 18/04/2022 18:21

I have had bad luck with plug plants.

RedWingBoots · 18/04/2022 18:22

Bold fail

They were plugs so small but advertised as ‘garden ready’.

They are garden ready to grow in gravel gardens or very sandy soil but not clay soil.

The lavender actually self seeded after I planted it into the ground but into cracks between paving where I was growing thyme. I pulled it out, potted it up and gave it away.

ThinWomansBrain · 18/04/2022 18:22

we have a very rampant lavender bush in our community garden - but it back to little more than a stump last year - it's back with a vengence. A new one that we planted nearby is still looking very anaemic.
It's in London, so heavy clay-ish soil.

ThinWomansBrain · 18/04/2022 18:23

*cut it back

pigsDOfly · 18/04/2022 18:26

A few years ago I was advised by a member of staff at our local garden centre not to plant lavender as it can be tricky and usually ends up going woody.

We do have a very heavy clay soil here so perhaps that was part of her reason for being so against it. Having said that, I've seen some lovely lavender in local gardens.

Gowithme · 18/04/2022 18:30

We have heavy clay, I'd never plant lavender in it as it's a disaster. I'd dig them up and put them in a pot of compost. We have some in compost and I still find they die easily though, I love the smell but I don't find them an easy plant at all although DH loves then and keeps trying. Put them in compost for alpines which has good drainage and put chocks under the pots would be my suggestion. As you say there are so many plants that genuinely are so easy that lavender is just a faff to me.

EvilPea · 18/04/2022 18:31

I’ve banned myself from buying internet plants. They all die. No matter the size or supplier. I only plant what I physically pick in an actual shop.
More expensive and you have to resist the temptation, I think they are fine for people with greenhouses and time to let them come on.

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