Failure Friday: Lavender Edition

As hinted in my previous post, my first edition of failure Friday will be lavender. Lavender is in my top 5 of favorite plants and has been in my garden for years. I love everything about lavender but then again, what is there not to love? Between the flowers, the heavenly smell, culinary and cosmetic purposes, aesthetic look in gardens, herbal uses, and oh I can’t forget to mention that pollinators LOVE this plant also. However, it is probably the number one plant I have killed the most of during my time as a gardener. Even though it is one of my more challenging plants, I continue to grow and use lavender in my garden. In order to understand why I have killed so many and how to avoid it, we need to take a look at where lavender originated and where it is native.

I typically grow the variety of lavender named Lavandula angustifolia, which goes by the common name of English lavender. The common name is misleading; however, because it does not originate from England. Lavender is native to Europe but more specifically the Mediterranean region of Europe. The Mediterranean region of Europe experiences a climate of hot, dry summers and mild winters.

Lavender does best in dry, well-drained soil that is sandy or gravelly, no humidity, and in full sun. That is almost everything Maryland is not (other than by the shore). Especially in Harford County with its clay soil, cold wet winters, and humid summers. Lavender does not like to have “wet feet” for too long and clay soil is great about retaining moisture. Additionally, it does not like humid weather, if you have ever grown lavender you might have noticed that by late summer some of the leaves are black, moldy, or have black dots on the bottom of the leaves. Lavender is notorious for getting leaf spot and root rot. Despite not having ideal conditions, it is still possible to grow lavender that is beautiful and thriving. It just might be a little more challenging. A lot of people in the area treat lavender as an annual which means they replace them every year, but it is in fact categorized as an evergreen perennial shrub which means it keeps its leaves year-round. Any time a plant comes back to life or stays alive year after year, it is perennial. This perennial is hardy from zones 5-8. Harford county is zones 6b, 7a, and 7b so in theory lavender should be able to stay alive year after year.

Now for the fun part of admitting all the ways in which I have failed at growing lavender….

Failure #1: Overwatering…

I think I have lost more lavender plants from overwatering than any other reason. Yes, lavender does need water especially during its periods of huge growth, but it does not need as much as you would think. When it is going through a huge growth period the plant requires more water than usual. Based on my experience with lavender (which I am not an expert of), I find that in spring and early summer they take more water because that is prime growing time but by the heat of the summer and winter, they slow down on water intake. They can take a form of hibernation and if you water them too much, the roots will rot which in turn will cause the plant to die. Why would they need less water in summer? Remember when I mentioned that they do not like humidity, their summer hibernation deals a little with that. When it comes to watering, I like to group my plants based on watering needs. I like to compare lavender with succulents. Succulents require minimal water to survive and lavender is almost there. I water lavender a little more than succulents but not much more especially when they are not in active growth. What is active growth? Active growth is when you see a lot of new leaves, flowers, blooms, or a bunch of white roots.

Failure #2 & #3: Containers

Putting lavender in a pot is a great alternative if you do not have the correct soil or are unable to grow plants in the ground. However, planting lavender in containers has its own challenges…

I have failed with more lavender plants while in containers because of soil composition. I thought I was being smart and innovative when growing lavender one time because I had read that lavender liked sandy soil. So I mixed potting soil and sand together to create what I thought would be a well-draining mix...yeahhhh…. nope. The sand particles are smaller than soil ones, so it ended up clogging up the potting mix and created the exact opposite of a well-draining soil. Yep, that pot became waterlogged and the lavender died as a result of “wet feet.”

Another failure in containers, is leaving the lavenders outside for Maryland winters. Yes, lavenders are perennial but that really only counts if they are in the ground and the variety. So, any lavender I have had in a container dies because the roots were not able to stay warm enough with those temperatures under 25. Different varieties of lavenders have different hardiness zones. Lavenders in containers can be brought inside for winter and that should help protect them from the cold. Sometimes, depending on the size of the pot (I have a couple pots that are too big to move), I will just cover the plants on those extremely cold nights when temperatures dip below 28.

Failure #4: Improper Planting

Probably one of the easiest failures you can avoid that I failed to do a couple times is to make sure you properly plant lavender. Lavender has a woody stem and does not like to have something wet against it. Based off of past experiences, I tend to remove any old or damaged leaves at the base of the plant and I also make sure to plant lavender with its crown above soil. Burying the stem does not mean you will automatically kill it; I have found that I have better success when the crown is not buried, and any debris is removed from the bottom. The debris around the bottom of the plant can hold moisture or diseases.

Also, be mindful where you are planting lavender, it needs well-draining soil and full sun. If you place it in the shade, it will not thrive. The happiest lavender at my house is on a slope alongside my house that receives afternoon sun and has whitewash as a background to help keep it warm. My least happy lavender was in my front yard where it only receives morning sun and is in the path of rainwater from my down spout and has to be one of my wettest areas in that garden bed. Unfortunately, I just had to remove it from my garden because it did not make it through the winter. Lavender might be successful at the top of or on hills and slopes because the water should run downwards and drain quickly. So think of your brightest and highest point on your property and lavender would probably love it!

So let’s see, I have killed lavenders from overwatering, cold temperatures, improper soil, and burying the poor plants too low. Any of those sound familiar to you? There are probably many other reasons why I have killed lavender in the past but those are the ones that are most prevalent.

Now I do not want to end this post on a negative note so I just want to state that despite killing so many I still love lavender and will continue to grow them for the years to come because it is a plant that is worth it in the end.

Just a word of advice, research the type of lavender you want to grow and plan out where you place it. I have used Missouri Botanical Garden, NC State Extension, University of Maryland Extension, etc in the past to research any plants honestly. They are great resources! I even used them for some factual information in this blog post.

Happy Growing!!