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Help Identifying Plant

newgardeners2020newgardeners2020 Posts: 48
in Plants
We are new to gardening so this is probably really obvious! Does anyone know the specific name of this plant? Looks like a variety of lavender family?Any advice on how easy/difficult it is to grow? Looking for something that can quickly spread over border. Thanks

Posts

  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,041
    edited July 2019
    Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/how-to-grow/how-to-grow-russian-sage/
  • newgardeners2020newgardeners2020 Posts: 48
    @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool thank you for your reply and the link. That is kind of you. We are complete novices and keep seeing plants we like, but are still finding things tricky!
  • newgardeners2020newgardeners2020 Posts: 48
    I have just read the article and there is lots of good advice - I will definitely try track this plant down to buy, although believe we have a clay soil (west Scotland) so not sure if it is too cold here and/or wrong type of soil? Baffled how people remember which plant to cut back and when as every plant seems different!
  • cassie.a.stewartcassie.a.stewart Posts: 279
    newgardeners2020 said:
    I have just read the article and there is lots of good advice - I will definitely try track this plant down to buy, although believe we have a clay soil (west Scotland) so not sure if it is too cold here and/or wrong type of soil? Baffled how people remember which plant to cut back and when as every plant seems different!
    I've just seen some at my local garden centre so you may have some in yours! 
  • newgardeners2020newgardeners2020 Posts: 48
    @cassie.a.stewart - thank you. Have you ever grown it? Not sure we have the right growing conditions where we are. It looks stunning. However we have no idea what we are doing and it is all trial and error!
  • cassie.a.stewartcassie.a.stewart Posts: 279
    newgardeners2020 said:
    @cassie.a.stewart - thank you. Have you ever grown it? Not sure we have the right growing conditions where we are. It looks stunning. However we have no idea what we are doing and it is all trial and error!
    No never grown it myself sorry. If you took the picture yourself you could see what the soil they were growing it in was like.

    If your soil is very heavy you could add some compost and horticultural sand/grit to it to improve drainage and open it up a bit. 
  • cassie.a.stewartcassie.a.stewart Posts: 279
    In saying that I'm by no means an expert so someone else may be better at offering adivce. 
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,507
    I've always grown in in clay type soil. It's an untidy plant and I don't really like the smell but my husband loves it!
  • newgardeners2020newgardeners2020 Posts: 48
    Thanks @cassie.a.stewart and @K67 - all advice appreciated - we are clueless. If by untidy plant @K67 you mean it spreads a lot (?) then that is what we want - we have a lot of empty borders to fill and want some plants that can pretty much look after themselves and fill spaces quickly. The link to the article sent by @Alan Clark2 in Liverpool says it looks good in winter too and not to cut back until April, so that sound appealing too for autumn/winter display. Thank you all.
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,507
    It doesn't spread much more it grows tall and leans in all directions!
    Over winter it's a patch of grey stems
    As to filling borders quickly I have done that in the past with plants that turn out to be right thugs, they do fill the border fast but just keep on going and you spend  more time trying to keep them within bounds.
    You don't say how big an area you have so start a new thread asking for ideas as there are some very helpful people in the forum 


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