Recommend a dwarf mound lavender
Bonsai-Marc
Posts: 444
in Plants
i have a couple of small spots left in my japanese inspired rockery
and noticed one of my cats is enjoying digging up and leaving doo doo
lavender is apparently a smell they dont like so im thinking ill add a couple of lavender within the buxus domes, mini trees and other plants i have
im looking for a small compact lavender that will prune well and grow well in a bit of a dome shape and have a good purple colour and good smell
any suggestions?
ty
0
Posts
Just wondered on any personal experience
I've pulled seeds off an existing lavender plant and grown loads of new plants that way. I created a mini-hedge in a sunny border, and also give plants away because they're so good for pollinating insects.
It's really easy. Good description and pictures here:
http://getbusygardening.com/collect-lavender-seeds-garden/
If you don't have any existing plants or sources of seed, then for less than a quid you could start here, 'Hidcote' won't get too big:
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flowers/all-other-seeds-and-plants/shrubs-and-roses/lavandula-angustifolia-hidcote/9538TM
Free p&p with T&M until midnight tonight.
Hidcote for me as it is very tough and withstands hard winters - as long as it has good drainage. We prune it back to a mound every autumn once flowering isover and he bees have stopped hovering hopefully.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
As an aside, lavender and mint from the same family, and deter flys, I always keep a pot of mint in the kitchen .
I was thinking hidcote can be bit large
After 30-45cm sort of type
The curry plant also deters cats - at least it has worked for me. Lovely greyish foliage and yellow flowers.
The Downderry Nursery website has a lavender selector according to colour and height: http://www.downderry-nursery.co.uk/hardy-lavender-selector/
I'm sure they'd also advise you which one would be best. (I don't have any connection with them, I only visited their nursery this year and was very impressed; they show the different effects that can be achieved by planting at different distances and with various lavender species, the effects of pruning, etc. I bought two small plants there and they are very healthy.)
Maureen, I'm not sure there's any secret of success, but I have read that germination can be slow, and that chilling the seeds for a period will increase germination when seeds are brought back to higher temperatures.
In my case, I may have replicated this without realising by growing from self collected seeds which I've just added to pots and left. Since the seeds will have been outdoors in pots over winter, they've chilled naturally, then germinated naturally as temperatures warm up in spring.
I've even had lavender growing in tubs that must have self seeded from being placed near a lavender plant at the right time when the seeds dropped naturally.
I've done much the same several times, Chris, and the seed's never failed to germinate. Perhaps the secret is judicial neglect!