Lavender dying :(

[babysnowman]

Hoping someone can help...

I'm totally clueless about gardening but have some lavender plants in pots by the front door. I'm really not sure how to look after them, some things I read say to drown them in water others say not to over water. There are two plants and one looks okay (ish) while the other looks totally done.

I've attached pics...can anyone advise if they are totally done for and if not, how to get them back to health and look after them?

TIA x

Pics

I've recently visited a Lavender farm in Yorkshire. The man that ran it basically said that once you've planted it give it enough water not to die as they don't like being over watered. They like a sandy soil and are best in the sun.
Obviously if in pots, they need a little more care but again don't over water but don't let them get bone dry either. For what's it worth, I can't grow it in pots but it seems to do ok in the ground.

They’ve probably had plenty of watering due to the recent rainfall I would feed them Miracle grow it always helps and repotting them into garden soil, my lavender plants do well in the garden no success will pots they need space to spread there roots- hope this helps

Any chance of getting them out of the pots and into the ground OP? And lavender is Mediterranean - so more sun and less water needed, can't imagine who told you to drown it, that's certain death for lavender.

definitely don't water them any more! Think of where lavender grows in the wild and then try to recreate those conditions: sandy/ free draining soil (so it's never sat with it's roots soggy) with lots of sun. It is hard to grow things in pots I think - it's very easy to either let them get to wet or too dry. You could also dead head them to remove all finished flowers heads which would make it look a bit better. Fingers crossed some sunshine they will now pick up.

Thanks for the replies; sounds like it was maybe too ambitious to try and have them in pots in soggy Scotland but they looked so lovely by my front door when 'alive'.

Don't feed Miracle Grow to a plant that's sick unless you know it's merely suffering form a mineral deficiency.

They're looking a bit droopy, which is an indication that water isn't getting through from the roots, either because there is no water, or because the roots have been damaged, eg by over watering. I would up-end them out of the pot and see which it is. Soil should not be bone dry, but if it's anything near what you'd describe as wet, then it's too wet for lavender.

@mere has perfect advice. French lavender always dies on me.

Alas, the UK is not the hills of Provence!

Repot with new compost and plenty of grit or perlite to make the soil free draining. Water when soil is starting to dry out. My plants including lavender all looked a sorry state until last year I realised they needed more care than just water I re potted everything with fresh compost and lots of perlite for good drainage as I get so much rain.I also feed everything weakly weekly with an organic plant food. Tomato rite would do though and is fairly cheap. In early spring I cut my lavender right back to barely nothing ensuring I cut above new emerging green growth in the woody stem.it looked awful but now has bushed right out and looks great. Also make sure it is in a sunny spot it can definitely recover. If the blooms are looking dead chop it back a little bit now and it may re flower this summer.

I've got a lavender a few years old in a pot in damp Lancashire, reckon it's better off there than in the ground. It's a large plastic pot so doesn't dry out as quickly as terracotta, but not soggy either.

Mine is English lavender though, not a fancy one like the OPs ... maybe it's a bit tougher?

I have lots of lavender and only this year have I felt that I am doing the right thing with it. All of mine is English though, white and purple. I am in the south east (usually very dry) and they thrive in the soil in those conditions. Mine are in full sun too.

We as a nation seem so keen to want to grow lavender. I am very much a novice as I only started taking an interest in my garden a couple of years ago at most, but my friends who really aren't gardeners at all, all want to have lavender if they are looking to buy anything for their garden. I think we see it as something that is easy to grow, or maybe we have fond memories of it and want to recreate those. but I don't think it is necessarily easy to grow in the UK at all!

That's true Well I live mid west Fr. and lavender grows brilliantly here with no extra water or feed, if you feed it you may overkill it.

The Op's Stoechas\ or Spanish (funny they call it Spanish here! ) lavender is much tenderer though, even here, it needs a sheltered very sunny place. BUT DON"T OVER WATER!!

'Normal' lavender grows fine in southern England, at least - my parents had a big old hedge of it in Essex, and there was another somewhere I used to visit on the Somerset coast.

Yes it does and there are now industrial sized fields of lavender (for essential oil) in England which is lovely!

I use the oil ALL the time, it's amazing for any stings, bites or cuts etc. Oh and helps you sleep.

While we're all talking about lavender, someone recently said to me something along the lines of "lavender is one of those things that we need to replace every few years or so, it doesn't look great forever". Is this true? I have quite a lot in my garden and wouldn't necessarily have bought it all if I'd known that it wouldn't last more than say 4-5 years. I know it is cheap, and that it grows to fill a big gap, so isn't bad value. But I hadn't banked on having to replace it.

Well like anything it does get old, but if you trim it straight after flowering, (not too hard into the old wood though) it's happy for a long time, I can't say exactly how long! They are all different too.

My parents lavender must have been decades old. It was leggy and woody at the base, I suppose, but there was other stuff growing in front of it so that didn't matter.
I don't remember it being pruned as such, I'm sure doing that properly would help.

I guess some people 'need' to replace it if they want to retain a small, neat plant, I quite like them looking more shrubby and woody.

@WellTidy you're spot on...I holidayed in Cornwall a few years ago a remember the beautiful smell of the lavender as you walked past it in the garden...thought I might be able to recreate that!

Mine looked a bit dopey last year so I cut it right back to almost nothing in the autumn (nothing to lose) and it's stunning this year. Might be coincidence but worth a try.

I am a complete novice gardener but I planted more lavender in my garden because it was doing well in a certain spot. I found that only the lavender planted in full sun survived. One plant was next to a hedge that was overgrown and it wasn't doing so well but now the hedge has been pruned and it has more sun is recovering 😁

It seems to like spots with poor soil as well. Mine is getting a bit leggy and so I googled how to prune it, apparently you have to trim it down heavily but not to where it gets woody towards the bottom. Only as far as the new green stems or it might not come back as well. That is the extent of my lavender knowledge!

As you have one ok and one not doing so well, I would do as a pp said and tip it out of the pot to see what the roots are like. You might well have a grub eating the roots, not sure if vine weevils eat lavender roots?
I have my lavender in the ground in my front garden, which is south facing and its doing really well. I cut it back really hard in the winter and its come back lovely. Are you able to plant yours in the ground by your front door?

Mine is English lavender though, not a fancy one like the OPs ... maybe it's a bit tougher? Yes, it is. I can grow English lavender but not "French" lavender (which in Portugal is called Rosmaninho - pretty but confusing! Rosemary is alecrim).

French lavender is more delicate and needs full sun pretty much all day. I planted mine in a lovely spot that had strong sun for several hours in the morning and then good light the rest of the day. By late afternoon it used to be droopy and sad looking but would pick up nicely the next morning in the sun. I got fed up with its fragile moods and got rid.

Mine thrive in my wet and windy Scottish garden