I want a garden full of lavender! How long do you think it will take for plug plants to grow?

[LittleMissBliss]

I am searching on the net for lavender as its a great hardy plant, colour and fragrance and my boys just tend to wreck the delicate plants in the garden whilst playing.

I would like lots of lavender and have found some great buys here but I'm not quite sure what to go for. The Jumbo plants instant gratification or the plugs lots of plant but tiny?

Please could any gardeners help me make an informed decission!

I'd be a bit surprised if plug plants are available - are you sure they're not sold out? It's the wrong time of year for plugs atm and if you bought them, they might die when it frosts in the autumn.

But, lavender grows really fast. I have some smallish plants I bought in May (not plugs, but maybe 4inches high), and they're all huge now.

On the website it says dispatched by the end of Sept 2010. Are you ment to rear plug plants then into bigger pots and then plant them the following spring?

I didn't have a clue/still don't really know what a plug plant is. I'm just presuming it's a young plant just sprouting from seed?

they have lots of lavender in morrisons at the moment quite cheap. They also tend to sell off old lavender half price at homebase at the end of the summer which is actually the best time to plant it.

If you want it for next year try planting seeds. They come up quite easily and will be quite big by next summer. You could have a whole hedge.

MissBliss - yes, you're meant to rear them in bigger pots. I don't think a plug plant dispatched at the end of September would survive outside, and equally, it won't really like being inside a central-heated house over the winter.

trice's suggestion is a better bet, I think.

I love lavender.

Thank you trice but we don't have a homebase or a morrisons near us! (I live in a village on an outskirt of a very small town) On the website that I linked to they're selling 5 jumbo plants for £11.99 which I thought was fairly reasonable?

I hadsn't thought about planting seeds, can you sow them straight into the ground?

Is that 11.99 each, or 5 for 11.99? It's steep if the former, very very good if the latter.

It might still be worth looking at supermarkets/ garden centres for cheap plants, as trice says, they tend to get marked down at the end of summer.

Are you planting a lavender hedge then? I wish I had space to do something like that!

I grow lots from seed but have never had any joy with lavender. English, as opposed to French lavender is reliably hardy so technically could be planted out but maybe better to grow on over the winter and then plant out April time. Do you have a greenhouse or similar light frost free area you could keep them? I got some free plug plants ( just means mini plants, like seedlings, grown in a small cell called a plug ) from Gardeners World a few years back that went straight in the ground, no growing on in greenhouse etc that are doing really well now, quite well established bushes.

In terms of what you go for, if you have the patience and the space, I'd go for the plugs as they are such great value. I bought 84 Laurentia from T and M in the spring, had to grow them on and plant out after frosts so a bit of grief for a few months but what a show now for such a bargain.

Or, you could buy the jumbo ones and do a bit of propagating to get more....lavender is much easier to propagate than grow from seed IME......with both rosemary and lavender I have just plunged cuttings straight into the ground and they have taken really well......

Littlereddragon- £11.99 For 5 large plants, which I thought was a good deal!

I am tempted to get the plugs and store them in my MIL green house over the winter as you get 8X the plants for the same price.

I may get both and try and try cuttings too!
We have a walled garden so lots of space to fill and I want tall plants I've been buying lots of rambling Roses, climbers etc. We haven't lived here long and It's hard to decide what to do with the garden. In the spring I planted lots of flowers and now decided it all looks a bit of an awful mish mash as it's one or two of each variety.

I want a cottage Garden feel as it would go with the style of the house and have now realised that I need lots of a single plant to make a real impact and fill space not a hotch potch of one or two plants in lots of different colours that i've bought or been given to me.

So lots of Lavender to start with seemed like the best plan to start with as lost of the established plants and bushes are pink, purple, and plumb colours as are my potted plants and I would like to follow the theme with white rambling Roses to add a bit of interest.

The front garden is another story it's glorious in spring as if filled with hundreds of bluebells and looks really bare and shabby when they've all died down and been cleared so i'm also looking for something that will grow well alongside the bluebells.

I've scattered some foxglove seeds, which may or may not take?!

tafetacatski- Thank you for your tips plugs do seem like such a great deal and it's English lavender so should be quite hardy!

Be careful with foxgloves if you have small children - all parts, including leaves and seeds are very poisonous.

Having said that, I have masses of them in my garden, because I love them, and have taught the DCs not to touch them.

your plans sound lovely op and how lucky to have a walled garden

do you already grow lavender? ie you do know that it will grow well in your soil before you buy zillions of plugs?

what type of soil do you have? drainage? aspect? are you town / country? inland/ coastal? frosty?

Ooh, I am jealous. It all sounds beautiful. Lots of the same plant is good, I agree. Alliums can be nice too and have a great shape to them.

Maybe nicotiana sylvestris would be nice in with your bluebells - they flower late and smell gorgeous? Or autumn crocuses/lily bulbs planted in groups among the bluebells?

Btw, I have a passionflower climber that I bought just this year - it has tripled in size and has beautiful ornamental leaves, so that might like a sunny wall?

(Ok, I'll shut up now and stop vicariously planting your garden! )

Once you have a few lavender plants going you can propogate by taking cuttings. I was surprised how easy this was. Look it up on the interweb. It really wasnt difficult!

Sounds lovely, I parked by a lad of lavender yesterday and the smell was fabulous.

Do you have a Market near you? Last time I went to our local one they had decent sized lavenders for £2 each.

Penelope Hobhouse has a saying about planting: 'when in doubt, repeat'!

Littleredragon- I passion flowers are gorgeous and the fact the the climbers grow so quickly is a bonus I think I may have to source one!

KristinaM- we live in the South West (Dorset) Most things that I have planted have done well, that haven't been eaten! except my sweet peas that didn't do well at all in the border but fantastic in pots. I have two small lavender plants, not sure the variety but the type that is more bushy and grows outwards rather than tall and up! They've grown fairly well but have been overshadowed by some of the other plants (which I'm planing to move or remove to make way for lots of lavender!

The back garden gets full sun for about 70% of the day as the sun comes up at the front of the house. Is directly over the top of the house mid-day and sets at the back of the house. We aren't overlooked. The drainage seems fairly good.....not really sure how you asses drainage but when i water the garden the water drains away quickly...is that what you mean?

midnight- Thank you for the warning about foxgloves I had no idea they were so poisonous! Luckily the boys don't spend too much time in the front garden as they play in back garden and we only really tend to use our back door. But now I know I will be extra careful, ds2 is crawling and puts everything in his mouth so hopefully he'll have grown out of it by the time they pop up!
I chose foxgloves as they are so beautiful and I hoped they would take easily as they are a wild flower variety....

WynkenBlynken- the town that I live on the outskirts of has a really good market mid week, resulting in it being really busy! So don't tend to risk it with my boys. But most Sunday's I go to the car boot without fail minus my boys any there are some fab flowers there.

The one and only Sunday I had ds1 there with me there was a man selling pots of tall lavender for £1.50 but I didn't buy any as it would have been too much of a hassle to carry with ds trying to keep an eye on. The next Sunday I went on my own as usual and he wasn't there and I haven't seen him since!

Thank you all for your help I am now off to google some of the plant names you mentioned.

I just bought lavender plugs from ebay, I've potted them up and they look well so far

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lavender-Munstead-Plug-Plants-x-6-Perennial-Lavender/323743844667?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcfa9f793aec344d7bc82b9868d6b1ecb%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D323743844667%26itm%3D323743844667%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A1aac3599-ae54-11e9-89a5-74dbd180b048%7Cparentrq%3A25bc306d16c0a4d2768e39befff3cb22%7Ciid%3A1

I've scattered some foxglove seeds, which may or may not take?! Foxgloves are biennial, so the first year just produce a ring of leaves, and flower in the second year. Once you've got them flowering, if they like the area, they'll carry on self seeding - just remember not to pull up the first year plants!

Something else to look at, which self seeds readily, is musk mallow, Malva moschata - frilly dark green foliage and masses of flowers, either pink, or, more beautiful, pure white with just a hint of pink in the very centre around the stigma.

Don't panic too much about the foxgloves - a lot of plants are poisonous (even daffodils - people have been killed mistaking the bulbs for onions). You best defend DC by teaching them never to eat anything without showing it mummy first - then they're safe in someone else's garden not just your own. Of course it's a bit soon for DS2...

I wonder if the lavender’s grown after 9 years....

Damn! I always get caught by zombie threads!