The biggest cause of death with lavender is wet feet. Make sure that water runs downhill away from the plant -- put it on a slope or in a raised bed or on a low mound. Plant it in full sun -- all day sun is by far the best -- and give it room -- it doen't like encroachment by weeds or other plants. In the fall, don't cut it down the way you would a peony or other perennials. Let it get through the winter on its own.

If you're planting small potted plants or plugs, you likely won't see any flowers the first year, or at least not at the normal time for your zone of late June/early August. You may get some light bloom around August/September. The first year, water them occasionally (if they have good drainage, watering won't drown them) and fertilize lightly.

In early spring, it may look as though plants have died during the winter. Don't despair. In late spring, after new growth has started, trim off anything that's obviously dead.

Munstead is a nice hardy variety with a good scent, but its stems are fairly short. I'd consider ordering a "straight" English lavender -- L. angustifolia -- which is likely to have longer stems and classic scent. For the greatest eye appeal in a vase, try the lavandin variety Provence -- very long stems, dark blue-purple flowers and a powerful scent. Pick the stems when the first one or two flowers on the spike open.

I've received good plants from Goodwin Creek Gardens and from Richter's herbs. A link for Goodwin Creek is below; Richter's is just www.richters.com.

Sorry, can't help witht he sweet peas

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: Goodwin Creek

Wow, Neil, thanks so much for your help. I emailed Jim Becker at Goodwin Creek and he gave me specific suggestions for what I'm looking for. Their website is great. :0) Phyl

Hi PhylRae,

I grow about an acre acre and a half of lavender. I would buy some different var. and try that see ehat works. I grow about 5-8 different types with about 10 different trial plants in the ground right now. I'm in So. cal and the lavender love it here.

I buy all my plants from Champion acres in Oregon. I have used 5 nursery and found them to be the best. Great plants and service.

Good luck Tim

I have grown sweet peas for years. You need lots of space and strong trellis for them. They should be planted about 9 inches to one foot apart for bouquet growing...they spread far. You would not want the perennial type; there is no fragrance and they do not come in many colours; just pink white and magenta. I would recommend several colours: lavender, pink, and white for sure. Also some red and purple ones, which go very well. I can recommend names if you wish. Royal Wedding for white, Red Arrow for red, Mrs. Bernard Jones for pink, North Shore, and there are many others. A nice mix is good to offer customers, but they always seem to go for pink and lavender ones without a doubt these seem to be the typical sweet pea colours. If you would like more information, please email me.

If you have some undercover space it is definately worth sowing your sweetpeas as early as possible - use long pots and protect against mice etc. I find that pink sweetpeas are the ones that seem to attract aphids so I make sure that they are disguised amongst other colours (blue gets least aphids but also least popular with customers!)
Best wishes
Jane

King size navy blue was terrific for me! My customers liked it too. Perhaps colors are regional? I like Territorials Mix of many colors, don;t remember the name but they had long stems, good colors and good fragrance.

Tim,
Thanks for the advice on Champion Acres and trying different kinds. Hopflower, Snapdragon and LizaLily, you ALL gave me great info on kinds, colors, how to grow (and aphids liking pinks). I also posted to the Upstate New York forum to get more regional info. I printed this all up...wow, they sound complicated, but maybe I'll give 'em a try. I really want to thank you for your help! :0) Phyl

Hey Phyl,

Good for you. I had a very hard time when I first started no one would tell me would type to grow it was very hard. I got plants from the different nuresry's and they were pure junk.

I've since found a good nursery, champion, and I have found some nice plants. The neat thing about lavender is there are so many different types. I took some samples to florists and they went gaga over them.

Good luck and give Nathan at Champion a call and he'll steer you in the right direction.

Let me know how the sweet peas grow. I wish I could grow em. But I only have time for so many plants.

Tim

Tim,
Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement. I will go with Champion per your recommendation. BTW, where in California are you? I have a brother in Ventura and my oldest daughter just got married and moved to Folsom, just outside Sacramento. I hope that someday she will learn the love of flower growing. She got a taste of it whenever she visited from college in Long Island, and grew to love her dad's and my roses especially. :0) Phyl

Howdy,

I'm in the hills above Palmdale in a little town called Leona Valley. I have 2 1/2 acres of U pick Cherries and have been branching out into flowers the last couple of years. I not sure how many plants ur going to buy but ask to see how many u need to get to get the discount. I grow alot of different kinds because they all flower at different times. Everyone grows grosso and provence. Which are nice plants don't get me wroung. I grow about 150 plus of grosso. But there are so many others. I really enjoy royal purple, White spike, hidcote giant, folsom, just to name a few. Plus the great thing about champion is he has tons that are not listed on the web site.

Feel free to e mail me with question. I had to do all the hard work myself. Remeber this, I like to call lavender a mediterrian weed. But it is a mediterrian and it doesn't like alot of water.

Take care, Tim

Thanks Tim. Think I'll email him right now to get more advice re: types he grows not listed. I'd like some pretty pinks too, if they exist. :0) Phyl

Yes they do. He make take awhile to get back to you. But don't give it a secong though, he'll get back to you. Also let him know what type of zone etc ur in. Also I believe there are some lavender farms back by you. I sell my bunchs for ten bucks but that is in the big city LA area.

Take care and feel free to ask me ? anytime, Tim

Oh also go for the contrast Deep purple/pink etc

I've tried several: Munstead, Hidcote, and plain old angustifolia. The soil is very well drained and they were all on south-facing, sunny slopes. Only the angustifolia did well and continues to do so; the other two rotted out, even with NO supplemental watering. Tim is in a perfect climate for lavender: hot, sunny, dry. I'm not. We have low humidity and are dry for two months in the summer, but that's all, with abundant rain or snow the rest of the time. Actually, it's only abundant for the West. You get way more precipitation where you are. Another local grower here swears by Grosso, I just haven't tried it myself, since I gave up on lavender as a cut flower and just have a few in my house garden. It takes forever to cut unless you cut the stems VERY short (like 6 inches), it takes a whole lotta stems to make a sellable amount, and folks around here weren't willing to pay much for it.

You could save yourself some time and money by NOT getting any stoechas (aka Spanish lavender). It's not reliably hardy below zone 8. You might want to be cautious about getting any varietes with stoechas in their parentage.

I'd ask local gardeners and/or contact a gardening club or group to find out how well lavender does there, before investing much in it. Maybe try some angustifolia first to see if you can grow it at all, if you can't find anybody who grows it locally.

That said, I LOVE the scent. When I'm in my house garden, I'm always pinching a leaf off and rubbing it between my fingers to sniff.

Jeanne

Jeanne,
Thanks for helping me here...yes, we do get a lot of precipitation (rain or snow......
I'll keep this in mind...BTW, what is "plain" angustifolia? I guess I thought all angustifolias had a 2nd name like Hidcote, Munstead etc? Thanks again. :0) Phyl

Lavendula angustifolia is a not-hybrid, wild species. I think stoechas is another, native to warmer climes. The varieties with the names after them have been bred for specific characteristics. Often they lose their hardiness in the process. Angustifolia isn't as easy to find as the named hybrids. I grew it from seed, but you can get plants, I think from High Country Gardens, but probably from the source Tim named, also. It's taller than Hidcote or Munstead, which were both bred to be short.

Jeanne