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French Lavender cuttings

cazsophieq2019cazsophieq2019 Carrickfergus, Antrim Posts: 109
in Tools and techniques

Hi all

Just a quick question, just wondering is it too late to take cuttings of French Lavender?

Cheers

Carol

Posts

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 9,664
    Worth a try if you can keep them out of the worst of the weather.  Another time, you would be best to do them a bit earlier. 
    The French Lavenders can be a bit more awkward as they tend not to be so hardy. 
  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 BristolPosts: 1,597
    I have tried many times over the season and its just pot luck.
    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 22
    I took four cuttings from mine, this was a month or so ago, but I am really bad at cuttings and have only successfully made a cutting from one geranium!  They were four dead sticks after a couple of weeks  :D. So my next plan is to try and keep my existing plants alive over Winter, which I think should be ok in a cold frame?  One survived being left outside last Winter, but it was a very mild Winter.  I've also taken some seeds from my plant (God so stingy with the seeds compared to my English Lavender!) so I'm hoping to grow some next year!  This information is obviously of no use to you whatsoever though  :#  
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 35,372
    Wrong time of year for cuttings of lavender, as @philippasmith2 says, but it's always worth it if you can be bothered.
    Strangely, the French stuff does ok here in a neighbour's garden, in all the wrong conditions, and looks better than the other stuff, which generally looks dreadful in our climate. 
    Do you mean pelargoniums when you say geraniums @Crazybeelady? They need to be frost free, and on the dry side over winter, so usually in a house, conservatory, porch etc. Hardy geraniums can just be split at almost any time of year. You wouldn't take cuttings of those.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 22
    @Fairygirl I thought it was a geranium, just the boring bog standard annual plant, but I think maybe it's classed as Pelargonium too, is there some kind of crossover? I've got it in a cold frame, it's not a hardy geranium.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 9,664
    If it is the type sold as "summer bedding", it's classified correctly as Pelargonium.

    It can be overwintered in a dry frost free place.  You can take cuttings in late summer but again care needed in over wintering. Often treated as annuals in the UK but they can go for a few years if correctly treated.

    There does tend to be some confusion when Geranium is used to describe both the "garden" plants ( die back Autumn/Winter and re grow in spring ) and the colourful ones sold for bedding, pots, etc.
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 35,372
    Yes - as @philippasmith2 says - the annual types are usually called pelargoniums, but taking cuttings means you can have them for years and increase stocks.
    I think technically, they might be classed as geraniums [someone may correct me on that] but it can be very confusing when people want advice, as the care is very different.  :)

    They're quite different from the hardy geraniums, sometimes called cranesbills.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 22
    Yes we're talking about Pelargoniums then - they definitely get labelled as Geraniums in garden centres a lot, but it has been slowly dawning on me that they are nothing like the hardy Geraniums I see on Gardeners' World!
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