As long as you have really good drainage, Leslie, the lavenders should be fine with water every 2 weeks. Any more than that, or less than perfect drainage, and you could be looking at rot. I also never water mine from above. Not sure if that makes a difference, but I've noticed that Mediterranean plants seem to prefer dry stems.

After they bloom, I cut my blooming stems back by at least 1/3, if not half. They seem to really like that, and reward me with more blooms.

I get dead-looking stems on my French lavender, and I just cut those out completely. I had a hard time with my "Frenchy" when I first planted it. It seemed very temperamental, but my 'Silver Edge' lavandin has been much easier to get established.

Not sure of your regimen, but I hope some of that helps. :)

Brenda

I have some Lavender that needs reg. water and some that are happy with once a week. The once-a-week is all overhead. I don't do drip. The back hill is the only place that needs to be "hooked up".... a hose to the black tubing that I use to deep-water that area every couple of weeks. The Lav. don't seem to do good back there at all.... but by all accounts should be best. I think the Central Valley has it's own set of rules. The air today is so friggen' dry that it just sucks the moisture out of everything. I'll be glad when Fall arrives.

I think what I'm going to do when it cools off is transplant this one that's half dead to between a set of Butterfly bushes where the water needs are similar or back further in this flower bed where there isn't as much water. I have another rose in a pot that needs a home and I think I'll use this spot since it seems it's getting too much water there. Yes, I don't understand both Lavenders liked this spot and the same amount of water there last summer, nothing has changed in that bed right where they are.

I'm smiling at the dry comment you made, I was outside at that hour and I was wringing wet messing around with the roses. I have budworms and I was inspecting and deadheading. I was also cutting back on some of the Ornamental Grasses that the sprinklers and the cats have made fall down. The cats like to eat the grass and hide out in it and behind it.

I used to grow this up in the mtns and it'd die completely back in the winter and emerge every spring bigger than ever every year and I rarely watered it. It survived mainly on what rain we had and my handwatering it when I got around to it. It's just here in the valley it completely puzzles me, it's a completely different game. Same plant, different growing zone. It was overall cooler up there and I don't think it needed water as often, I don't know. It just one of the best plants I had, the 3 of them.

Tonight I'm worried, my son headed off with his girlfriend to Shaver Lake this am with his RV and jeep on a trailor. Haven't heard anything from him. We're listening on the Police Scanner to all the CDF fire units dispatched etc. I'm sure it'll all be ok. Biggest reason I'm glad we don't live in the mtns anymore, fire.

Leslie, I hope you heard from your son by now!! Please let us know when you can!

Oh, and I hope you got the seeds! I sent them off on the 18th. Mail is iffy around here, and what we send sometimes doesn't make it to its destination. :)

Brenda

I didn't know there was a fire by Shaver. Hope your son is OK.

He called this morning and said they were ok, we gave him the dispatch numbers to put in his scanner to monitor. Also he ran into a CHP this morning and was told that the fire was looking pretty good, that if it got out of control they were aware there were a lot of campers and would come around with bullhorns. That was a big relief.