How big a pot would I need for English Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia or vera) to gorw fairly well?

Not necessarily thrive and reach maximum size, but flower and live for a few years?

I have heavy clay soil, rain 7-8 months per year, and would rather amend just a few pots, if they need fast drainage, instead of a whole raised bed.

Also, my yard is small and I just saw some Lavender in the Oregon desert that was 3-4 accross!

I had some in a pot for a while until it baked in the sun last summer! They prefer good drainage and a lot of sun.

Love the english lavender. Good choice! That's one you just have to run your fingers through to release the oils.

We have lots of sun - 2-3 months per year. I wonder what it would do as an annual in a 1 gallon pot?

We have cold wet springs and a short cool summer.

Well, I can tell you from experience they die without water! lol

I planted some 4" pots of them by my mailbox this past spring, and they were doing great (morning sun only) until it just got too hot for them. I didn't water them near enough for the heat they were experiencing.

I did have one in a pot last summer that did really well in a gallon pot. The dogs knocked the pot over one too many times though.

Just for perspective I've tried French, English, Spanish and a couple others. The "couple others" did well enough in huge clay pots in full sun for just 2 years. I yanked one 2 yr old out today. Totally pot bound. It was impossible to keep hydrated in the heat (Phoenix, AZ = HOT). Certainly not worth the water to grow something like that in this climate.

By FAR my best success with French, English and Spanish is in the ground on mounds of slightly amended clay and rock, full sun, regular trimming twice a year (cut back by 1/3 in a dome shape). I've had great success with this combination. My pics are in my other camera.... sorry. But they are pretty and very lush year after year.

If I try a pot again it will be huge and plastic. Lavender does not like rich soil. I think I'd try a mixture of cactus soil (non orgainic/sand), perlite and potting soil. 1/3 each. Drainage is key. Here in PHX the pot gets so hot the roots cook... unless you line the inside of the clay pot with bubble wrap or line it with styrofoam.

Susie, that may be why mine didn't make it last summer after it looked good for awhile. It must have just cooked.

Yea, Carey. I know I won't try to grow lavender again in this climate when it does so well in the ground... I'm not into murder.

Rick I just noticed this thread today. I love Lavender and had tried to grow it several times here. Previous years I bought nursery plants and they always died during the winter. March 2009 I bought a package of seed to try once again. I started a six pack inside but only 2 of my seedlings survive to be planted outside at the end of May. They both grew very slowly and were still pretty small come fall, I figured that they would never make it through the winter. Both plants survive and even bloomed this summer. I really need to move both plants as they are in too much shade.

This is the variety that I have "Dwarf Munstead", it's very fragrant and would be a good size for pots.

Hi Rick. Sorry to be so late to the party. I live in Seattle. What part of WA gives you zone 8 you lucky thing?
I don't see a lot of Lavender in pots here on my walks, but it grows like an awesome weed in the ground. Pokes up between steps and all kind of magical things. Of course, if I went to the nursery and paid for it ...... it would perish for sure.
I do know that I bought a little plant at a yard sale in a strawberry jar that was doing just fine thank you, but boy, it flourished when it got to the ground.
I have the same lousy soil and painfully "filtered" sun. I think we have officially entered our 7 months of rain haven't we? Sigh.

>> it grows like an awesome weed in the ground

Wow, in the rain? I thought the crown would rot, from what I read.

After I get my current projects in hand, maybe I will take that on as a challenge. It looked great in the high Oregon desert, and I figured that I had the exact opposite in every way: rain, soil and clouds.


Between Everett and Lynnwood. 98204.
So close to 99 / Evergreen Highway that I can hear it, and tell myself it's a river with white water.

Some maps show me as Zone 8a/8b, 1 1/2 miles from the Sound. On the other hand, the Everett NOAA weather station recorded a few "0'F" lows 2 winters out of the last 10-20, if I recall ... of course, they are another few miles inland and a fgew hundred feet higher.

and someone a few miles away in Lynnwood, inland, is sure she is Zone 7.

A better description is Sunset Climate Zone #5 (see the link in my sig block).

Rick,

Washington state is known for it's lavender farms. Many of them are just a short distance east of you, around Sequim. My husband and I visited one called "Jardin du Soleil" and it was awesome.


There are many lavender farms in the area. Obviously, lavender not only grows in the ground there, it thrives
https://www.google.com/webhp?h...

Karen

Hunnh! I read so many things warning about crown rot if it rains, and the need for fast draining soil ...

I guess I shouldn;t believe what I read.

Well, the next bed that I create with any sun will get some lavender thrust into it, if I can germinate seeds.

I knew it was happy in the high Oregon desert west of some mountian ranges, with soil like gravelly sand, but in the clay-and-rain coastal Pacific NorthWet? Amazing
!

The most beautiful flowers and gardens I've ever seen were in Washington state, honestly.

Don't take everything you read so literally! Books tell you ideal cultural information. Many, many, plants don't like wet feet in winter, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Plant those plants on mounds. Amend with compost. Such plants might be shorter-lived for you than in drier climates, but that doesn't mean they can't be grown.

I'd be willing to bet that I get more rain, and certainly snow, than Seattle. My son, who grew up here, now lives in Seattle. He says people Seatte don't know what a storm is. You get mist, we get torrential downpours. You get dustings of snow- we measure it in feet. But I have clay soil, and I grow coneflowers, rudbeckias, salvias, lavenders.. I just adapt the plant's conditions a little.


Karen

Karen I love the lavender farm photo and I think your garden is beautiful!

>> He says people Seatte don't know what a storm is.

That's certainly true. After living in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersy, I moved to WA and wlaked around in shirtselves wondering when winter was going to start, while natives shivered.

And in the summer, I would be delighted at how mild and cool the days were, while natives said the "heatwave" was killing them.

And people leave work early if we MIGHT get a dusting of snow ... becuase they're afriad they "might not be able to get home".

Everything is relative.

Absolutely relative!

I do think some things that "don't like wet feet" have shorter lives here for that reason. Lavender probably lasts about 3 years for me on average. Gaillardia, maybe 2 years. But some of my coneflowers have lasted for years and years so go figure. You never know.


I will be surprised if I don't lose some of those things this winter. This has been our wettest year ever recorded, 66" so far. We had 13" in April alone! But some years are really droughty with far less rain. It keeps gardening challenging to say the least. I really feel for people in Texas will their drought this year. I hope next year is better for them.

Karen

Sigh. We're under flood watch again, and the first rain drop hasn't fallen yet. It's supposed to start around noon today and drop up to 3" of rain by Wednesday night.

Karen

Sorry to hear that Karen, that's awful, I hope they are wrong and it doesn't happen.

We sit on high ground so we never have flooding in our neighborhood. But rivers and streams will likely flood, and some lower lying areas of the city. This is a huge system now from the Canadian border to Texas.

Karen

kqcrna said:The most beautiful flowers and gardens I've ever seen were in Washington state, honestly.

Plant those plants on mounds. Amend with compost. Such plants might be shorter-lived for you than in drier climates, but that doesn't mean they can't be grown.

Karen

Even though I have mostly well draining soil, in low lying spots I build a small mound as well. Just 6"H x around 2'W. I also stay away from organic mulches as that holds too much moisture around the crown.

Rick, since your climate is somewhat like the UK, I'd think English lavender would do fine there. I just reviewed my comment on L. angustifolia and realize I might want to define cold beyond just my hardiness zone. I believe it's the roots that are at risk in waterlogged frozen (for extended periods of time) ground. What do you all think?