Lavender plants

Lavender help please

For the first time ever, I am about to do some gardening. Always enjoyed looking at a lovely garden; my dad grew beautiful roses and my husband enjoyed pottering and growing. After a rough few years since being widowed, I have moved into a rented retirement bungalow and have a back garden and small 4ft x 4ft front area for planting. The back garden is entirely concreted - but nicely - like a courtyard. Just needs cleaning and tidying. When I moved in July there was a gorgeous lilac bush which overhung the pathway and was old and woody, so I got rid of it. I only did so because you had to lean to one side and shuffle past it on the narrow pathway. Shame because it smelt beautifully and the many bees were an absolute delight. I'd like to replace it with a potted variety (because its a concrete courtyard, all my planting will be in pots). What variety will grow large and quickly?

Justjoined

Thank you ☺️ Rosemary is lovely too, just need a little salt now!
“Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder, Keep rosemary by your garden gate, Plant lavender for luck, And fall in love whenever you can.” - Sally Owens, Practical Magic 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

The lavender’s also by the front door. 😊

Thank you ☺️ Rosemary is lovely too, just need a little salt now!
“Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder, Keep rosemary by your garden gate, Plant lavender for luck, And fall in love whenever you can.” - Sally Owens, Practical Magic 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

Justjoined

It’s best not to plant lavender outside or to prune until all possibility of frost has passed. My cuttings have done well in an unheated greenhouse and I will bring them outside in their pots once there is no frost forecast.
Try Munstead for a beautiful English Lavender that looks good in the winter too, especially when properly pruned into a tight dome. This is a photo of some of my French (butterfly) lavender taken today.

Those look really good, I’ve got Rosemary cuttings in my greenhouse. Look the same, as they’re related.
I’ve Lavender around my fountain getting leggy now, so cuttings here I come!

If you are wanting a lot for a hedge fund Lidl. Usually sell lavender in trays of six and I have not been disappointed on several years. Still going strong. The French lavender has suffered this winter

If you need to buy lavender (or other shrubs or plants) online I can highly recommend Ashridge Nurseries. They are not cheap, but extremely reliable. I bought some lavender from them last year to replace some old plants which had died. They stock a good selection of varieties.

Lavender is the one flower scent that makes me heave, but admit they look very good.A near neighbour just has a row of substantial lavenders in her small terraced front garden and it looks great.I once asked her how she kept them looking so good and she said it was neglect and they thrive on it😲

It’s best not to plant lavender outside or to prune until all possibility of frost has passed. My cuttings have done well in an unheated greenhouse and I will bring them outside in their pots once there is no frost forecast.
Try Munstead for a beautiful English Lavender that looks good in the winter too, especially when properly pruned into a tight dome. This is a photo of some of my French (butterfly) lavender taken today.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202501/medium-522540-20220720-173437.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202501/medium-4158-20230709-144816.jpg

Lavender, -lovely choice! I think it's one of my favourites.

Slightly different season and timescale, but as an example, I bought new tiny Hidcote plants at the end of July and put them straight in. (It was a new bed.) They grew and flowered, albeit thinly, in the September.
The following year they were in massive bloom.
So, my inclination would be to hold off until later, and even then not to buy the largest, but to nuture smaller ones for the long term.

Casdon

It’s really easy to propagate from cuttings from your existing plants, if you’re that way inclined.

Mine seed themselves in cracks and sometimes I've successfully grown good plants from these self-setters.

I have 5 plants (ought to re-pot really) in the greenhouse waiting to be planted up against a south facing wall. They won’t go in until April or May.

It’s really easy to propagate from cuttings from your existing plants, if you’re that way inclined.

Yes, I think ours will need replacing this year Esmay
There's only so long they can be pruned before they start to look woody and get brittle.

I don't advise buying lavender plants from anywhere except a specialised Lavender nursery.
I've bought some of these bargains before .
They've failed .
Replacements have been sent only to fail again .

I start planting after the last of the frosts otherwise the ground is far too hard .
I had a wonderful lavender hedge in troughs .
One died during a dry spell and the remaining ones started to look old and woody , despite careful and regular pruning .
I've replaced the soil and the plants with fresh lavender plants .
I have to be realistic - after five years , if not before my hedge will probably need replacing .

Thanks again and yes I’ve decided to wait another month or so and see what is in the local nurseries. My enthusiasm has got the better of me and I don’t think they’ll grow much in the coming weeks anyway ……

I’d also wait until the local nurseries get their new stock. The independently owned nurseries around here often have offers on multiple buys.

Tbh I wouldn’t bother to buy them now. You may as well wait until April/May or you will be double handling. You will find more varieties at a lavender farm and they will be stronger than T&M who own a conglomerate of online garden companies such as Dobies and Suttons which is why all the prices are the same.

You could plant up the troughs in your greenhouse*Stillness*, what they don’t like is very wet soil. You can definitely put them outside in April though, because it’s the soil temperature that matters. I propagate mine from cuttings, which is easy to do.
Here’s the RHS guidance, which might be helpful for you.
www.rhs.org.uk/plants/lavender/growing-guide

Forgot to add I’m on the south coast and have a big but sheltered garden, if that makes any difference. Still undecided….

Thank you for your replies. I was thinking of hidcote but definitely English. I do have a greenhouse (unheated) that they could go in. The plants I’ve seen are in 9cm pots and on sale from the well known plant/seed companies like Thompson, Crocus etc. I’ve had good plants from them before…but equally some that aren’t so good. I’m eager to get them established in the troughs ….but maybe too eager!

Lavender should not be planted before May, regardless of size and type. You will find it impossible to buy plants from any reputable supplier before that month.

Look at the site of a couple of good suppliers and check out the ones you want. Lavender comes in a variety of colours and a variety of height and spreads for 1 ft by 1ft to 3ft by 3ft..

I wouldn’t plant them now as the soil is too cold. As soon as the soil warms up you can plant them. I did this last Spring with small 9cm pots but it’s taken a year for them to fill out. Still much cheaper. I got mine from the Somerset Lavender farm who had loads of varieties to choose from.

If you’ve got a greenhouse or a coldframe it would be good to buy them now and grow them on yourself, but don’t plant outside until April. French lavender isn’t as hardy as English lavender.

French Lavender's less hardy too, I seem to remember. I think they'd be OK planted now if you're using english lavender, especially if they're in a fairly large trough with plenty of soil between them & the frosty air so their roots stay relatively frost-free.

Compared to some perennials they are slow-growing at first so really little plants mayn't fill out to fill their planters the first summer.