Rules for the care of lavender, growing lavender in the garden

Pleasant aroma, unpretentiousness, attractive appearance and a variety of practical applications have long made lavender one of the most popular plants. For her, there are secrets of care. What conditions need to create a plant to become a real decoration of your garden, and how to grow lavender from seeds?

  • Lavender: description and types
  • How to choose a place for growing lavender
  • Evergreen Planting Rules
  • Features care for lavender
    • How to water lavender
    • Loosening and dressing soil
    • How to cut lavender
  • Reproduction lavender
    • Cuttings
    • Growing lavender

Lavender: description and types

Lavender has a rather discreet appearance: a green, matte stem, covered with foliage, an arrow of small purple flowers. The height of an evergreen plant is from 20 cm, and the diameter of an ordinary lavender bush is not more than 40 cm.

This shy girl is not immediately noticeable in the garden, but if not by her appearance, then everyone will recognize it by the smell of lavender. The warm, rich and slightly tart smell of lavender attracts both beneficial insects (honeybees) and sophisticated aesthetes-gardeners.

Did you know? Lavender smells not only inflorescence.The stem and leaves also have a characteristic aroma, but softer than that of the flowering part.

Lavender has the following properties:

  • therapeutic (anti-inflammatory, soothes, relieves headaches)
  • decorative (used for registration of landscape zones)
  • cosmetic (organic supplement for skin and hair care products)
Lavender finds its use even in the kitchen, as a spice for delicious dishes of haute cuisine.

Features of the use of lavender depend on its type, which number about 30. The difference between them in color, size of inflorescences, stem height and leaf shape. Some of the species grow only in certain places, and most - on all continents and continents.

The most common types of lavender:

Narrow-leaved lavenderor real. The peculiarity of this species is in high frost resistance and fast regeneration. The narrow-leaved lavender does not require special conditions for cultivation and easily takes root on any type of soil.

Broad lavender has a brighter scent, and the stem produces not one, but three arrows of inflorescences.

Lavender cog - decorative, "dwarf" view with bright colors and silvery figured leaves.

French lavender sprouts only in open ground, transplanting into a pot is contraindicated to her. Small flowers are almost lost on the background of large leaves, which makes this type of lavender an ideal material for hedges.

Dutch Lavender - This is a hybrid species bred by crossing broad-leaved and narrow-leaved relatives.

Important! The stem of the highest evergreen shrub reaches 2 m in height. Only hybrid species of lavender are capable of this, for the cultivation of which special climatic conditions are needed.

How to choose a place for growing lavender

When planting lavender in your garden, you need to take into account some of the nuances that directly affect the quality of flowering and the survival rate of the plant as a whole.

Lavender is very sensitive to acids, so peat soil does not suit it. The ideal option would be a porous, loose soil with a low level of acidity. But if on your site there is no opportunity to create such conditions for the plant, how to sprout lavender? Regular application of wood ash or lime will make the soil more fresh, and with the help of organic fertilizers you saturate the soil with nutrients.

Wetlands or soil with highly flowing undercurrents are not suitable for lavender. In a humid environment, this evergreen shrub fades and then dies. But if there is no other place, then with the help of drainage layers it is possible to reduce the level of soil moisture and create favorable conditions for the cultivation of lavender bushes.

As for illumination, lavender can grow in both shady and sunny areas. But in the second case, the lavender will please you with bright inflorescences and a spicy scent, and in the first case - the look and the aroma of the plant will be very dull.

Evergreen Planting Rules

Under favorable conditions, lavender grows well and willingly multiplies. Seating of already formed shrubs can be done both in spring and in autumn, the only condition is sunny weather and moderate watering. In the autumn, the plant will report its “readiness” for transplantation with a hardened stem, and in spring, with swollen buds.

Before planting lavender in the open ground, pour a hole 5-8 cm deep and leave it to “steam” under the covered film for about 3-4 days, periodically watering the ground.Then, having dug a bush with a lump of soil, detach the desired part of the bush with the root and place it in the prepared hole. For the period of rooting, lavender should be watered often, but not overdo it.

Features care for lavender

Lavender - unpretentious bush. But this does not mean that you do not need to care for her. A beautiful, strong, flowering plant is the result of proper care.

How to water lavender

Lavender loves moderate humidity. Water lavender as the soil dries. In the summer, the frequency of irrigation - 2-3 times a week, in the offseason will be enough and once in 1-1,5 weeks.

Loosening and dressing soil

It is important to monitor the soil in which lavender grows. In a loose, oxygen-rich soil, the plant grows better and produces more beautiful inflorescences.

Important!The roots of lavender do not go so deep into the ground, like other shrubs. Loosening the soil, try not to be too zealous with the tool, otherwise you risk damaging the root system and ruin the entire bush.

Lavender responds well to fertilizing: it quickly absorbs fertilizer and very soon comes to growth and color. Both organic stimulants and mineral complex fertilizers are suitable for it.

How to cut lavender

Lavender bushes have a rather chaotic shape, and in order for your flowerbed to look well-groomed, from time to time it is necessary to prune the crown of the plant.

The rules for pruning depend on the type and growth of the bush, but there are a number of requirements common to all types of lavender:

  • trim the inflorescences after the first flowering;
  • not affect the stiffened pillar of the plant, and cut only the young shoot;
  • the maximum length of the cut-off part is no more than 5 cm.

Reproduction lavender

Growing lavender includes not only planting and care, but also the ability to properly propagate the bush. What are the ways of reproduction lavender exist?

Cuttings

One of the simplest and most effective methods of reproduction of lavender bushes is grafting. For him to prepare the soil for planting and collect planting material.

Young shoots cut from an adult bush are used as cuttings. The optimal length of planting material - 10 cm, so long shoots can be cut into several small cuttings.

Ready for planting soil - it is loosened, oxygen-rich land, generously watered with water. It is in this soil that you need to place the ready cuttings, sprinkle them with earth and press down at the base.

The best time for planting horticultural crops in open ground is the first months of summer. At the end of the season, the cuttings will take root, and it will be possible to plant them at a permanent place of flowering.

For the period of rooting the plant needs a large amount of moisture, drought will destroy even the strongest cuttings.

Growing lavender

The question of how to plant lavender seeds is relevant. If there is no adult shrub from which cuttings can be cut, the seedling method is the only option!

After buying the seeds of lavender need to harden, for this they are placed in a bag of sand and sent to the refrigerator for 1.5-2 months. This procedure should be done in early January, so that by March the seeds were ready for planting into the ground.

Did you know?Hardening boosts the plant's “immunity” to the winter cold. The hardening procedure must go through the seeds of lavender of any kind, which will grow in regions with strong frosts.

By the time of disembarkation, it is necessary to prepare pots or boxes, fill them with soil to half. Seeds together with sand are poured into the soil and sprinkled with the rest of the earth with a thickness of not more than 5 cm.

The seed box is covered with a film or glass and placed in a dark place for 1.5 weeks. When the lavender sprouts, the tank needs to be rearranged to a room with a temperature of + 15 ... + 22 ° C, waiting for the sprouts to become strong, to prepare the bushes for landing in the ground.

Lavender takes root well, endures cold and heat. It will be a real decoration of any garden.