What is the key to growing healthy lavender?

Lavender endures through impersonating parched Mediterranean slopes. I lost three plants before I learned to prioritize gravel over fertilizer. Six hours of sun and poor soil, while brutalizing 'Munstead', fashioned a tough, fragrant hedge from a defiantly dying plant. The climate will require you to adjust your methods, but not the fundamentals.

English lavenders can survive winter for zone 5 if covered. French varieties must be housed in zone 8 or above. A client in Vermont has the ‘Hidcote' variety planted against a stone wall, where it soaked up the radiant heat, creating a tint of heat like the Mediterranean you mentioned in your email. Use a variety that mirrors your frost patterns, which isn't the same as writing from catalog photos.

Only prune after the flowers have faded in late summer - never in spring! If you prune too early you will cut off the buds that produce flowers. I made that mistake with my first hedge. Use bypass pruners and cut out one-third of the green growth from your hebe hedges - not cutting off any of the woody growth since it will not regenerate.

Signs of overwatering are present in yellowing leaves and soft stems. You can test the soil using a chopstick; if it is dry at two inches, then water. My neighbor's lavender made a comeback when switching from plastic to terracotta pots because terracotta wicks away extra moisture that plastic does not.

Read the full article: How to Grow Lavender: Complete Expert Guide for Success