White lavender
I spent the whole of yesterday in the front garden, I've never spent a day out there before it being ugly concrete and weeds but now it's been done I have noticed (after 12 years living here) that it gets boiling sun up to about 2pm then mostly shade in the afternoon except right at the front on the road.
I was hoping to plant white lavender round the edge but I don't know if it can cope with 7 hours of sun and not hot sun all day.
Does lavender do partial shade?
The front garden is north east facing which means partial shade for some of the day due to the sun going over the house after midday.
Thanks.
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If it can't cope with it I need a white flowering evergreen border plant but I can't find any that will look good all summer.
Lavender is bred for hot sun. Not sure why your sun isn't hot.....are you in the far north? Anyway.......sunshine and dry conditions suit it fine and I'm sure it can cope with a bit of shade at the end of the day. Even if the conditions are perfect, plants have a habit of making fools of us and refusing to co-operate so the best thing you can do is plant the stuff and see if it takes. I ought to be able to grow lavender all over my garden but it refuses to exist in one half. I think that is the joy of gardening. You never stop learning, or losing money.
It's becasue of the position of the house. We get sun which obviously is hot for half of the day then shade all afternoon as soon as the sun has passed over the house to the back garden.
I think realistically I'm going to have to grow them in the permanently sunny area at the top of the bed and find an edging plant for the partial shade bit.
The area needs about 15 plants and I dare not waste that much money if they are going to fail. Back to the plant catalogues
I have a very successful hedge of blue and white alternating Hidcote and Edelweiss lavender growing at the top of a sleeper wall in quite heavy, fertile but well drained soil. They are in full sun but this is Belgium so often grey and wet (and sometimes very very cold) but they do very well and are covered with bees and hoverflies even in a soggy summer like this one has been.
They are so happy they have made lots of babies in the gravelled parking area below - all blue.
I suggest you get some good white ones for your sunniest part and maybe take cuttings as they mature and see if they will do in your shadier bit.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Yes that's a great idea obelixx, no loss of money then. I am still not decided whether to get Edelweiss or arctic snow. Is Edelweiss very big?
A good evergreen plant for awkward places is white perennial candytuft - Iberis, Lou. I used to have it in a rubbishy bit of soil at my front gate in a previous garden. I also had it in the border on the other side which was even shadier but had better soil - happy in both spots. It was north north west facing, but in shade for a lot of the year because of the house blocking the sun.
Last edited: 07 August 2016 18:54:50
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have lots of that in the back Fairygirl I really like it, doesn't flower for a very long time here though.
I will have some of that in the front but I've decided on euonymous harlequin, it's short and 2-3 foot wide so perfect.
Lavender X intermedia Edelweiss is larger than Arctic Snow, I grow both. Edelweiss has very long flower spikes and will need plenty of room.
Last edited: 07 August 2016 21:54:05
Which I don't have, it will have to arctic snow then :-)