Lavender hedge
Rosemary Wilson
Posts: 5
I'm thinking of alternating Hidcote with Munstead along a 3 sided border. Will this work or will it look a pig's ear? Please advise before I spend a fortune on plants! Many thanks.
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Rosemary Wilson
Posts: 5
Posts
thank you. I've messaged him.
Just been talking to someone who doesn't think it will work because Munstead is a bit of a thug apparently & Hidcote more compact. But I too was thinking of blocks, maybe even white along front & the other two down the sides, but that might really look a pig's ear.
In which case, why is there not a photo of you on your profile?! Thanks for your reply. General concensus is that it's better not to mix, so will go with that.
And thanks from me too - blocks it is
I'm trying to grow a lavender hedge too, I had a go a few years ago when I first started gardening..I, in my inexperience, cut the lavender back really hard but far too late in the year, not one plant survived. As it's a fair few plants needed I just couldn't afford to buy a load of them... There was a deal on for 25 plugs for next to nothing from an ad on gardeners world so I've been raising them and will have another shot at it.
So I've learned not to prune to hard to late. I hope this is useful to anyone thinking on it..pretty obvious, if you know I suppose.
Another lavender horror story I came across was of a Chinese lady, a gardener and a garden centre. The lady wanted 50 lavender plants right round her garden, a lawn and all those lavenders and nothing else. That's fine...whatever she wanted was her choice....actually sounds quite nice...if you had acres of land you could have a dedicated lavender garden, anyway the gardener I was working for asked for advice from the garden centre on how to plant it, they said good drainage and good compost, so he did all that.......all 50 plants died!! I believe he planted another 50 plants and they all died too....I've seen this chap I do occasional work for but daren't ask how that saga turned out, a very sore point indeed.
So I learned not to fuss lavender, I hope he did too. I just plant mine in any old soil after that, the less fuss the better in my view.
Sorry it's a bit long winded but hard lessons to learn and best shared.
I suppose it may look quite nice to dot randomly a few at informal points for some interest, if they grow at different rates, you'd have to wait till they were a certain size before shaping the hedge. I dare say you could cut back the stronger one a little harder then the weaker.
I'm growing the same sort of hedge I spoke of, 2 different varieties, it's very early stages and I hope they go for it this summer. be really interesting to see how it develops.
I sooo wish I hadn't asked. After agonising have just bitten the bullet today & ordered 50 plants (money is an object but only buy charity shop clothes), then I read Jimbolena's horror story! Should I send husband out to scrape off compost he's been putting on, or leave & mix into our clay soil?
Why did I ever start this.....