Lavender — the fragrance of the Mediterranean in the garden
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I was lucky — I live in a place where it is possible to grow heat-loving plants, at least their frost-resistant species. It wasn’t always like this, but climate change on the planet…
Mindful of positive thinking, I decided to switch to plants that are not quite traditional for our places.
For example, lavender. Perennial evergreen subshrub exuding an inimitable aroma. Interestingly, everything smells in lavender: stems, leaves, flowers. She is a well-known source of essential oils, a sedative, an antiseptic and a recently discovered spice.
Flowers are the most popular — they are added to tea, to meat dishes when baking, to sawdust when smoking fish, to preserves, jams, and even candied to decorate cakes.
Twigs with leaves are placed in pickles and marinades. The aroma of lavender is specific and is used to perfection in the homeland of lavender — the Mediterranean.
It is a valuable honey plant and a broad-spectrum medicinal plant. However, in landscape design, lavender has an equally honorable place. In order to grow a fairly voluminous and lush bush, you need to know a few rules:
- lavender loves loose, non-acidic soils (6.5-7.5 pH),
- stagnant water in the ground should be avoided,
- after flowering, the lavender greens are cut, but literally by 2-3 cm, so as not to expose the branches to the lignified part,
- an adult plant does not like transplants, if necessary, it is important to keep an earthen ball around the root system and do the procedure only in early spring,
- nitrogen fertilizers that enhance vegetation are applied only in spring, lavender does not tolerate organic matter (manure and litter), but mineral complexes with a high content of potassium will appeal to her,
- once every 10 years, 1-2 kg of slaked lime (per 1 square meter) is added to acidic soil and dug up.
POPULAR VIEWS
There are not many varieties of lavender, but you can still find plants with purple, lilac, blue, blue, pink and white flowers if you wish. All of them are derivatives of two types: English (narrow-leaved) and French (broad-leaved and stahad) lavender.
Lavender angustifolia, common, English (Lavandula angustifolia, same as L. officinalis)
- Growth area: Southern Europe.
- Flowering period: June July.
- Color spectrum: blue flowers (there are white and pink varieties), silvery leaves.
- Height: up to 80 cm.
- Growing conditions: loose non-acidic soil, moderate watering, sunny place, shelter for the winter with spruce branches is possible.
- Peculiarities: perennial evergreen shrub, one inflorescence on one peduncle, the most frost-resistant species (up to -250C), medicinal plant, spice.
- Varieties of narrow-leaved lavender with white colors — Edelweisse, Alba, Arctic Snow, Hidcote White, etc.
- Owners blue (blue) shades — Grosso, Dwarf Blue, Munsstead, Hidcote, etc.
- Violet (lilac) flowers in varieties Dark Hidcote, Ellagance Purple, Essence Purple, etc.
- Pink inflorescences in varieties Loddon Pink and Posea, etc.
lavender broadleaf (Lavandula latifolia)
- Growth area: Mediterranean.
- Flowering period: July August.
- Color spectrum: purple flowers, green leaves.
- Height: up to 1 m.
- Growing conditions: loose non-acidic soil, moderate watering, sunny place.
- Peculiarities: evergreen subshrub, branched peduncle, high content of essential oils, valuable as a raw material for the perfume industry.
Lavender stahadskaya, (Lavandula stoechas)
- Growth area: Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia.
- Flowering period: March-June.
- Color spectrum: purple flowers, green leaves.
- Height: from 30 cm to 1 m.
- Growing conditions: loose non-acidic soil, moderate watering, sunny place.
- Peculiarities: evergreen subshrub, high in essential oils, valuable as a raw material for the perfume industry, needs to be carried to a warm place for the winter (it can withstand at least -140C, therefore it is more often grown as a pot culture.
The photo collage shows a far from complete list of hybrid varieties of broad-leaved lavender. All of them are unusually beautiful, some even frost-resistant. But most of them are still grown as potted crops.
Lavender jagged (Lavandula dentata)
- Growth area: Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, Atlantic islands
- Flowering period: July.
- Color spectrum: violet-blue flowers, silver-green leaves.
- Height: up to 1 m.
- Growing conditions: well-drained calcareous soils, moderate watering, sunny place, frost resistance up to -50FROM.
- Peculiarities: perennial shrub, leaves pubescent, with a serrated edge.
IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW
Since lavender is a heat-loving plant, it is afraid of freezing of the root system. The greatest danger in our latitudes lies in wait for lavender on elevated areas and slopes. There, water does not linger, which means that the earth remains dry and unprotected from frost.
pruning — an important stage in the formation of a beautiful bush. In the spring, all dried parts are removed that did not let the lateral processes. In summer, at the peak of flowering, flowers and part of the foliage are cut off in order to prepare raw materials from them.
If you plan to get seeds, then pruning is transferred to the end of August-beginning of September, when they ripen.
In any case, the plant must be pruned before wintering, this procedure will make the lavender bush lush. You will get this result in the next season.
Lavender lends itself well to shaping. Round-shaped tapeworms are grown from it, as well as live borders.
The combination of lavender and natural stone is as natural as the combination of sea and sand.
Places of rest are framed with lavender: patios, lounge areas, areas with benches. Its place is not only in the ground, but also in container gardens on the terrace or in front of the house.
Only shady and wet places are not suitable for lavender.
COMBINATION IN SHAPE AND COLOR
Lavender is a great specimen for a Mediterranean or landscape garden. It is drought-resistant and quite unpretentious, as well as decorative throughout the year.
In addition, this plant is a «long-liver»: in one place without transplantation and division it can grow up to 25 years.
Perfect garden plant 🙂
As a contrasting partner in the flower garden, you can plant a soft cuff with lavender, and frame fragrant curtains with caustic stonecrop. The contrast of yellow and blue (purple) will create a very bright composition.
Such a combination (pictured above) of simultaneous flowering of lavender and decorative onions is possible only in the case of Stehad lavender.
Lavender looks great in huge arrays, in which plantings of different shades of this amazing plant are combined in a large space.
Planted at the foot of rose bushes, lavender will not only not be lost against the backdrop of the queen of flowers, but will also emphasize her beauty. In this case, this cooperation is mutually beneficial.
REPRODUCTION AND TRANSPLANT
Seed propagation of lavender will allow you to get a young flowering bush only in the second year of development.
In this case, the material must necessarily undergo stratification either in natural conditions (pre-winter sowing) or in the refrigerator (seeding time is February).
Without this procedure, the seeds will also sprout (subject to sowing in open ground in early June and maintaining moderate humidity), but germination will be very low.
In May, the seedlings are moved to the school.
By autumn, the sprout will develop into a small green bush — just a few branches. However, he will quite cope with the winter frosts if he winters under the shelter of a snow cover.
Reproduction of lavender by cuttings gives the greatest productivity in a relatively short period of time. This is how new individuals are obtained in nurseries.
For cuttings, young semi-woody twigs up to 10 cm long are harvested. The lower part of the leaves is removed. Soil for rooting is bought with ordinary peat (for seedlings) — the land from the garden is not good. The cuttings are immersed in the substrate to a depth of 4 cm, sprinkled with a layer of sand, covered with a film.
Procedure time: end of June — beginning of July. The greenhouse is periodically ventilated, the optimum air temperature is not higher than +25. In a month, the roots will develop, and the top will start to grow. This is a signal — it’s time to transplant into separate containers.
The disadvantage of this method is the regular monitoring of soil moisture, temperature and degree of illumination. It is not suitable for busy people.
The laziest way to guarantee new bushes is by layering. The lower branches are bent and pinned to the ground in the spring, and the following year, the rooted layer is separated from the mother bush and planted in a new place. But this method of reproduction did not take root in me due to the arid climate.
The division of an adult lavender bush is possible, but it is fraught with the death of the divisions. This is because an adult plant does not tolerate a transplant. If you are ready to nurse the transplanted bushes, you can try. From a bush divided into three parts (the procedure was carried out in early spring), only two survived. Therefore, I prefer to grow lavender using the natural stratification method.
The best age to transplant lavender is the second year of development. A good time is the beginning of the growing season. The seedling is immediately planted in a permanent place — a subsequent transplant is undesirable. An adult should be transplanted carefully, with a large clod of earth and preferably with the use of root preparations.
The optimal distance between plants is about 80 cm. For several years, one bush will occupy a fairly large volume.
A seedling with a closed root system (in a container) can be planted in the ground at any time of the year, but no later than September. Mandatory condition: careful transfer from the container to the hole and subsequent control of soil moisture for a month.
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