Which lavender? And a little help with my front garden flowerbed

[SunnyUpNorth]

We had our driveway done last year and have been left with a large flowerbed at the front of the house. It is about 6 meters wide, it is curved so probably about 1m wide at it's narrowest and 2m at it's widest point.

I want to plant a lavender border along the bit where it meets the driveway. But when I look up lavender online there are so many varieties and I don't know where to start. I suppose I want something relatively hardy (as I know nothing about gardening, but am willing to learn!) as it is likely I will forget about it now and again. I also would prefer it not to just go wild growing and spreading although I guess some growth to fill the gaps would be good. I don't know what the soil type is but I think that part of the drive is north west facing so it will get afternoon sunshine.

We also want to plant a hedge where the flowerbed meets the wall diving the drive from the street. Any recommendations? I quite like laurel but some I have seen on other people's houses doesn't seem to grow very uniformly. Perhaps this could be due to lack of pruning, not that I know how to prune! I also quite like privet but have seen some can look quite patchy and twiggy.

For the rest of the flowerbed I was planning to put down the weed resistant matting with something like bark on top and then plant some shrubs. I like hebes but don't know what else to include that is quite low maintenance, pretty and might look nice between the hedge and lavender.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions.

OK caveat - I am not an expert but FWIW

Lavender needs quite a lot of sun to flower profusely. So we had a short run of lavender in a v small garden and it was noticable how the sunnier end grew so much better than the end which only got an hour or two of sun.

I have planted Hidcote in a sunny space - it is the not the tallest (about a foot and a half) but the flowers are a lovely dark purple.
Lavender needs well drained soil. It is (in the right position) IMO a perfect plant for being forgotten as it will tolerate dryness more than wetness . What lavender does need , however is proper cutting back once flowering is over to keep it bushy. Never cut a lavender back to dead wood - they won't grow from that. So I would check the sun is uniform along the length of the bed and then decide how high a hedge you want . This will help you decide between the varieties.

Once you know you want lavender then you can choose plants which need well drained soil (mix some grit in to improve that if you dont have it already) .

As for front hedge I personally dont like laurel - it's a bit dark for me . Beech is lovely if you like the dead leaves look over winter. Alternatively If you have some sun there , what I have seen which looks nice , is a trellis to the height you want and then train Star (sometimes called Confederate ) Jasmine through it . It will end up looking like a hedge , ie it will cover and hide the trellis , even though it is a climber. This jasmine is evergreen and also has the most beautiful smelling little white flowers in the summer.

Sorry not to be more help , but a layperson's view !

PC

blog.jerseylavender.co.uk/?p=505

Possibly some ideas here

But as I say , I am not an expert so I hope someone more knowlegable will be along to give you better advice .

But best of luck , It sounds like it will be lovely.

Whilst I am a rank amateur , the bast advice I ever took , is work forwards from what soil / sun / conditions you have and see which plants will work , rather than eg trying to decide you want a rose garden in conditions in which roses wont be happy. A plant in the conditions it likes will always look better than one which has been shoehorned in to a place which does not suit it .

Anyway - enough from me
PC

I agree with Poppy, make sure you have enough sun before you choose your lavenders. I would just go for the one which is most easily available in your area, in all likelihood it is the one which will do best there.

If you are making them into a hedge, make sure you don't plant anything too close to them - or they will grow lopsided and weak.

Other things I have growing with my lavender include rosemary, santolina (grey and green forms), irises (not that low maintenance), lemon balm (can take over a bit), lemon verbena (can you tell I like herbs?), veronica, ornamental sages of different colours, oleander, alliums and madonna lilies.

I put down the weed resistant matting and have regretted it massively - the weeds have grown through it and it makes it harder to take them out, also it makes it impossible to replenish the soil and so it becomes poorer and poorer over time - I have spent a massive amount of time this year ripping it all out (not easy when you have lavenders growing through it!).

I have two lovely lavender angustifolia in my front garden (the 'bog standard' lavender). They need full sun and well drained soil.

I prune mine at October half term (last wk in Oct) by taking the top inch off all over including all the old flower stems, but absolutely no more than this. There is a lot of advice online about when to prune lavender but late Oct works here.

Lavenders are not 'forever' plants. They eventually get overblown, leggy and tired. I've replaced my two three times in the 17 years I've lived here. They only take two years to get to full size, give their best for another three or four then get whipped out.

Thank you so much for your advice, that's great.

I love herbs too and I was actually looking at some rosemary and sage the other day. I also love verbena. I might have a look at that route again.

Great advice, thanks all.

I basically agree with all that's been said so far. Hidcote is a very pretty lavender if you have enough sun and well drained soil.

I chop all the dead flowers off once it's finished flowering and then give it a little haircut in early Spring. That seems to prolong its life - mine need replacing really but is 8 years old now. This is by far the longest I've ever got it to last! It's in my south facing front garden.

For a look of lavender but I think with a longer season of interest I would also look at Nepeta - the variety I've got is I think called something like Six Hills Giant. People often think it's lavender. It works well as an edging plant as it spills over the edge of the border but is quite compact and easy to split when it gets bigger too.

Not a fan of laurel tbh - my neighbour has some and it is very tall and not much grows beneath it. Not sure it will necessarily go that well with your lavender either. How formal a hedge do you want? I have a series of nice shrubs planted which provide some screening (but less than a proper hedge) but also interest at different times. Not all of these are evergreen but you could think about viburnum tinus, dogwood, philadelphus, berberis (I have a nice dark red one), amelanchier, maybe even eucalyptus or a small lilac (you can get dwarf ones).

Meant to add that Nepeta is less fussy about its conditions too.

I agree that Hidcote lavender is lovely and if your soil is well drained you will be fine. I have some 10 year old leggy lavenders now but my biggest problem has been rain soaked clay soil over the winter as lavender does not like this.

I totally agree with others about not having a laurel hedge. They grow quickly and are total thugs. They steal light and are densely green. If you want a hedge go for beech or hornbeam. Or the suggestions from ShoeWhore are great. I have lots of Six Hills Giant. It is a larger Cat Mint but looks very good. It is a perennial though so not there all year because it is not a shrub like lavender.

Thank you all,I've been trying to look up all the different plants mentioned.

I would prefer something evergreen. I have had a browse on hedges direct and am wondering about a buxus hedge or perhaps a griselina. Thoughts?

Or possibly lonicera?

I like French Lavender like [[http://s7ondemand5.scene7.com/is/image/ParkSeed/1208]]

I like French Lavender like this

buxus may be a bad idea - google 'box blight'.