I know this is not directly fruit related…but I invested in several “phenomenal lavender” plants 2 years ago …drawn in by claims of hardiness and quality variety…they did not make it through the winter…possibly just straight winter injury…but as I was reading more about lavender I began to wonder if it wasn’t a drainage issue that led to the winter injury susceptibility…ie root rot. although I did not see evidence of root rot…that does not mean that it wasn’t happening below the surface of the soil…if the roots were dying off…that would probably do it even if it was not evident from the appearance of the crown …what do you think ?? I have decided that rather than invest more money in full grown nursery stock again…i would buy 10g of seed and see if I can get some well drained raised box seedbeds going…if so, it should be a good/inexpensive solution to gradually getting a good crop of lavender plants going…which I hope to use as pest confusers/deterrents around some of my fruits and vegetables…as I have read , and from my experience…the main problem with companion planting lavender is that most of the things you are going to want to companion plant with are going to require different conditions than the lavender itself…water for example…you are not going to want to give the lavender nearly as much water as, say brassicas, which is one beneficial companion ( the strong essential oils of lavender deterring moths and such). My plan is to get around that by planting the lavender close by in a separate raised box which will be kept much drier. In terms of tree and bush fruit that might benefit as a companion, even if only due to attraction of bees, but hopefully as true companions…does anyone know about this…will my apples for example benefit from having a raised bed of lavender close by ? If not I will plant them where it is convenient and not concern myself with strategic planting since Im going to plant the lavender anyway, just wondeting if anyone knows of real benefit I might get from strategic placement ??
When I started growing lavenders, I routinely killed them successfully by overwatering them which I didn’t think was possible in southern California. The ones that thrived were neglected. They probably require less water than other herbs like Rosemary, sage, and thyme. I’m not sure what will work in your 5b zone though.
I personally like having lavenders around the garden. Then smell good and they bring a lot of bees.
We did the same with lavender, watered them and they died. Read up on them and now I never water and they are doing great.
sedums are a great companion plant to put with lavender. both thrive on no water and neglect. pro mix makes a cactus growing mix that works good for growing these plants.
What about lavender as a companion to fruit ? Because of it’s preferred growing conditions , it would not seem to be a part of a natural guild of any type of fruit…I can’t think of any fruit that would work out in sunny, dry, alkaline conditions…
It really depends on your irrigation setup. My trees get drip irrigation. The lavenders in between them don’t get any drip irrigation. I just water them by hand once a month or so during spring and summer.
I’m 5b and have had lavenders do well. Neglect is important and I’ve found they tend to need full sun. Best success has been to put them up against hard borders. One set is edging a driveway and another is south facing, in front of a cement well head and bed border.
In both cases, nothing was really done to the soil to improve it before planting.
The driveway set is one side of my haskap bed and near the older sour cherry. No idea if they help.
What has worked are the bog standard, hardy ones. Not super exciting and smaller blooms but consistent survivors generally. A few have propagated. I got a solid 8 years with no pruning or problems but lost a good 50% a couple of winters ago. It was the one where we had a long run of extreme cold (-20 and below for 2+ weeks) and there was little snow pack. That did them in. I replaced the dead and the new ones are growing.
I generally prefer cooking and baking with the leaves vs flowers on this type. Bees do love them and I’ll usually get 2 rounds of flowers per season.
I live in SW France where we have very hot, dry summers (and cold winters, but not as cold as yours!). Lavender thrives with zero attention in full sun in summer. I never water or feed them, so neglect is the key - apart from a light pruning at the beginning of spring and a full pruning after flowering.
I have not tried growing from seed, but I have great success with cuttings. Each year when I do my pruning after flowering I take cuttings and put them in pots with a soil/sand mix. My sister-in-law in Italy simply breaks off a piece and pushes it in the ground where she wants it and it grows!
Yeah France and Italy are much kinder to Lavender. With our humid summers and wild spring temperature swings, even in zone 6b in the US northeast I expect to lose 10-30% of my lavenders every winter. My neighbor lost a whole row of Phenomenals. I’ve learned to just buy cheap local packs of Munstead and plant them in amongst other flowers in ways that it’s less obvious when three kick the bucket (my original attempt was as a border row and it looked awful by year 2).
I second Viridian’s advice…my happiest lavenders are in the driest, sunniest, nastiest spots near driveways and curbs. I’ll still lose some each year, and that means by default that I companion plant them with surprise dandelions and the neighbors dog poop.
After killing several, I second (or third) the advice of neglect. In Zone 6/7 Virginia we would amend the soil and plant in raised beds. After the first year they wouldn’t get supplemental water save for rain. For what it’s worth, the ones that died were typically on the windward side and ends of the rows, perhaps placing a wind break near your young plants will help them establish?
I can think of figs and olives off the top of my head. You know, those classic Ontario standards?
I love that line…"neglect is important "…yes, don’t forget to neglect,…
I’m terrible at that !
Interesting…I wondered if I had overwatered or whether it was just their position, close to the southside of the house…which, you might think is “sheltered”…but as I found out with my Kristin Cherry (on the north/ northwest side ) after doing well for a couple of years…sometimes “sheltered” near a building is actually a windtunnel effect…or in the case of the lavenders on the southside…the reflected warmth from the sun on the house may either result in more freeze/thaws than otherwise, and possibly the plants ability to maintain its winter hardiness to the cold ?..or perhaps all of the above.
Yes I also picture southern European landscapes…France Portugal Spain
Ha !
You know what it would actually work well with is prickly pear. The native O humifusa is pretty hardy and would like the same high drainage situations. The fruit are small and don’t have a lot of pulp, but are pretty tasty.
Reviving this topic for advice-
I have in my watchlist- Vera, Hidcote and English Lavender.
I plan on growing these from seed…then propagating afterward.
As far as pollinator and aesthetics they are totally worth growing right?
Should i omit or add any to the varieties i listed?
Should i try to find these varieties in the spring and propagate instead of seed?
I’ve grown a ton/lot of Lavender. It’s so easy to grow a flat of 48-cells from seed it’s semi-ridiculous. There’s no need for cuttings.