Lavender Plants - How far apart to plant?

Lavender guide

Planting distances

Always a tricky subject, and it is of course desired effect and how long you can wait for your border edge or hedge to grow.

This is my very quick guide

Compact lavenders & dwarf lavenders
Varieties - hidcote, rosea, twinkle purple, lodden blue, little lottie

Generally these varieties will have a spread of around 25-30cm (30cm in ideal conditions) - so you will be looking at just over 3 per metre or 1 every foot.

Upright lavenders
Varieties - munstead, all the hybrids (edelweiss, grosso, provence, grappenhall)

These varieties all have potential to grow quite tall, so are larger plants in the long term - they all can be kept to a border edge size by hard trimming every autumn. Planting distance should be slightly further apart than compact varieties. It is worth cheacking spread on individual listings on the popular plants website. 3 per metre, or 1 every 16-18in would be ideal, but you could go further apart, although it would look sparce for the 1st year or so.

Larger lavenders

Varieties - Melissa Lilac, grey hedge and in some cases old english - so vera (dutch lavender clone)

Big plants, with large spreads, and tall flowers - these can be spaced out quite far apart if you are just leaving to grow. Melissa lilac has a potential spread of up to 75cm - however would not recommend letting the plants grow that big - annual trimming recommended, as they look good as well kept small bushes. I would still be looking a 2 - 3 plants per metre, or 1 every 18inches - but it is to taste, and depends how big you want them to grow - a well kept lavender hedge will look tidy. The Old english varieties can be trimmed into nice mounds every autumn, and can be kept as almost topiary shapes - best variety for filling borders. The old english reaches it's potential size relatively quickly,so for instant effect this is the ideal variety.

more information will follow over the year - when it is a bit quieter.
Chris
www.popular-plants.co.uk

Lavender Hidcote Plants

Lavender Hidcote Blue

The King of dwarf Lavenders???

The lavender hidcote is by far the most popular and best selling lavender in the UK. This dwarf and compact favourite is ideal for border edges, or low level hedges. Blue flowers adorn the plant from early summer to early autumn and offer great aromatic qualities. As with all lavender plants you are also offering bees their daily nectar as well...

The full name is Lavandula Augustifolia Hidcote. The 'augustifolia' is a general word to distinguish that this is an English variety of lavender. Lots of varieties of lavender fit into the augustifolia bracket, and generally this means they are hardy varieities.

Lavender Hidcote has obtained many awards, include an RHS award of garden merit. The award was obtained for being a reliable and good performing plant in ideal conditions.

Lavender Hidcote - The stats

Potential height of 50cm in ideal conditions, but it is not unusual for some hidcote plants to only grow to 20cm. A potential spread of 30cm is achieveable in most circumstances, however potentially it is possible for a spread of 45cm in ideal conditions.
Flowers are blue, and generally quite a dark blue most years, but you must be aware weather conditions can possibly change the colour darker or lighter some years.

Best Places to Plant

Generally lavender hidcote is planted as a border edge or low level hedge. It is seldom seen as a stand alone specimen, or grown in pots. If you are planning to grow in a large patio pot please only plant one plant in each pot - they are not keen on sharing pots.
This is probably also the most popular lavender varieties as table centre pieces at weddings, and is ideal for this job as being dwarf they tend not to stop conversations across the table. Other suggestions would be lavender hidcote pink, or rosea.

How to plant & How Far Apart

Best to plant in well drained soil, in a sunny or partial shady spot. The planting area must be a hot place in the garden as well as being dry away from any standing water all year round. Do not be afraid to add sand to the planting area before planting as this will help drainage and over wintering the plants.
Hidcote will spread to 30-35cm in most circumstances - so 3 plants per metre will surfice. 9cm potted lavender hidcote will take around 1-2 years to make a joining hedge or border. 13cm (or 1 litre) potted lavender will take significantly shorter.


Be sure to read more guides on the popular plants blog