Lavender Mix

Lavandula angustifolia
Also known as English Lavender, True Lavender

$5.00

In stock

Description

Lavender is one of most rewarding plants to grow! For very little effort, you get so much reward – soothing aromas, beautiful flowers that attract pollinators to your garden, dried flowers for wreath making, essential oil for scented salves and lotions, medicine for soothing headaches and stomachaches and calming the nervous system, a natural pest deterrent, and drought-tolerant landscaping.

We couldn’t get enough of lavender and wanted to line a couple hundred feet of driveway with bushes of lavender! This would cost a lot if I were to buy potted plants, but luckily, lavender can be easily grown from seed. From a few seed packets, I soon filled our driveway with sweet scented lavender of varying shades of purple, all happily buzzing with insects. By the second year, I have plenty of plants to collect seeds from to grow even more.

I’m always seeking out interesting varieties to add to the mix. I started with Munstead, a compact English lavender known to be a hardy workhorse with strong aroma. Then I added a deep purple variety called Ellagance, which is one of my favorite dried flowers. And I’ve also added Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas), which have rose colored flowers with quail-like plumes on top of each flowering stem. Lavender cross with other types so these seeds will exhibit new, interesting hybrid traits.

Details

Lifecycle: Perennial
Lifespan: 10 – 24 years
Hardiness zones: 5 – 8 (USDA)
Habitats: Dry grassy slopes amongst rocks, in exposed, usually parched, hot rocky situations often on calcareous soils
Plant size: 4 feet tall by 3 feet wide
Light: Full sun
Soil: Sandy, well draining
Water: Minimal once established
Seeds per packet: 25+ seeds

Seed Starting

Sow seeds 1/8″ deep 8-10 weeks before the last frost and press firmly in place. Transplant to 4″ pots when the plants are large enough to handle (about 2″ tall). In early summer, up pot seedlings in 1 gallon pots and keep them in the nursery for one year before final placement. Plant them out in the spring, after last frost. Space plants 2 – 3 feet apart.

Cultivation

Once established, lavender are low maintenance, drought tolerant plants. I have a lavender plant that is often forgotten during my watering routine (which was once a week during the summer) and even in 100 degrees weather, it thrived. This makes a lot of sense since lavender’s natural habitats are hot, rocky slopes. They’re the perfect plant for areas that bake in the sun with little organic matter.

Lavender will become bushy in the second and third year. Pruning will help to maintain its shape. In late fall, prune off all dead flowering stems and mulch around the base with wood chips to protect the roots in the winter.

Harvest

For drying, harvest the budding stems before the flowers have opened. Hang in bunches upside down indoors to dry. For salve, harvest the flowering spikes when half of the flowers have opened and put them into jars immediately. Harvest in the morning before the sun and heat dissipate the essential oil.

Propagation

Lavender can be propagated by seeds or cuttings, depending on your goals. We wanted to line our long driveway with lavender bushes of different varieties. It was cost effective to start 20-30 plants at a time from just one seed packet. Lavender varies by size, scent, color, and hardiness. Propagation by seeds will give you more diverse plants and allow you to trial different varieties to find the ones that are best suited for your garden.

If you love a particular lavender and want the exact same plant, then cutting is the best choice. Cuttings can be taken from August-November, before first frost. Choose young, non-flowering shoots (not woody old stems). Cut 4-6″ and remove the lower leaves from the bottom third of the cutting. Place several cuttings around the edge of small pots of gritty compost and keep the pots well watered in the nursery for 4-6 weeks. Once they’re well rooted, place cuttings into individual pots for a full season before planting out in spring.

Seed Saving

Leave flowering stems to turn brown and dry completely on the plant. Check on the seeds by cutting off several dried stems and rubbing them between your fingers into the palm of your hand. You should see small shiny black seeds fall out. Collect the dried seed stems and spread them out on newspaper to continue drying (1-2 weeks). Gather them into a large metal bowl and thresh with your hands by rubbing a handful of stems between your palms until all the seeds have fallen out. Pick out the stems and screen and/or winnow by gently blowing off the chaff with your breath.

Additional information

Weight0.007 lbs
Dimensions4.5 × 3.25 × .05 in

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