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PunkRotten
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Did I screw up with this Lavender?

Hi,

I have been growing lavender in a 3 gallon pot for a while and the plant does not look very good. It is alive, but never see any new growth and the leaves don't necessarily look very good. Anyway, I cleared this area near a bed where I have some rosemary and sage. I decided to pop the lavender out of its pot and saw that it is sort of root bound but not quite. Anyway, in the spur of the moment I planted the lavender next to the rosemary. But since I need some space I planted it kind of close. The rosemary is about 2 feet high and about almost 2 feet wide and I planted the lavender about 8-10 inches apart from the rosemary. Did I mess up on the spacing? Would it work if I keep both of them trimmed?

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ReptileAddiction
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Pictures? Lavender can get very large and need different requirements than rosemary.

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rainbowgardener
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I'm not sure about the conditions part... both of them like sun, well drained, kind of sandy, slightly alkaline soil. The rosemary probably likes it a little richer and moister than the lavender, but both are adaptable, so they should be fine growing together.

But I agree about the large. Mine doesn't get very big because it dies back every winter. But in places without cold winter, lavender just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Visiting in the Bay Area, I see lavender bushes that are like 5' high and wide.

Lavender is more cold tolerant than rosemary, but that doesn't matter for you.

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ReptileAddiction
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Most places in southern california the lavender doesnt need any water when the rosemary would die without some. I think that if you water it would be fine though.

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rainbowgardener
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Yeah, as I said, the rosemary likes a little richer and moister. But I grow lavender in the ground here, and we get 40" of rain a year. So it can tolerate some moisture.

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ReptileAddiction
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Ok, I have also seen rosemary get huge. There is a 10 foot hedge my neighbor has that started from one bush. But then again I had a cone variety that grew in the shape of a christmas tree that I just pruned every year to keep that shape. It was only like 3 ft tall and 1 ft across.

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PunkRotten
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Here are some pics:

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/942_3443.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/942_3420.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/942_3422.jpg[/img]

The area just in front of it I plan to put a small row of strawberries (like 6 plants).

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PunkRotten
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BTW, when I first got the sage and rosemary they were tiny. I watered them once or twice when I first planted them. And I think I neglected them after that rarely watering. I kind of treated them almost like cactus And they seemed to always be healthy. I never pruned them the 1st year and by the 2nd year they exploded with growth. I believe overall they are on their 3rd year. I water a little more now since it has been really hot. maybe like 1-2 times a week, sometimes a sprinkle other times a deep watering. Since it is cooling down I am gonna back off on the watering. The area is clay but when I added the rosemary and sage I put a bunch of cactus soil there. And when I planted the lavender I added more cactus soil. Plus the soil isn't quite as much clay-ey anymore cause I have grown herbs and veggies in front of it and added compost at times.

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I don't think there's any problem growing lavender and rosemary close together. My questions go another direction:

1) When you took the root-bound lavender out of its pots, did you open up the roots with pruning shears or a sharp knife? All you need to do is score straight down from the surface to the bottom four times, 90 degrees apart, so that the roots will be stimulated to send out new growth in their new habitat.

2) Please find another place to grow the strawberries. The strawbs need LOTS of water; the lavender and rosemary do not. By watering the strawbs sufficiently, you'll be overwatering the lavender and rosemary, a recipe for trouble.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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PunkRotten
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Cynthia, No I didn't do anything to the root ball. It was quite big and that was another reason the planting next to the rosemary is close. I also had to hill up the soil a little around the lavender. Should I just leave everything as is, or should I make some adjustments?

I get what you are saying about the straws. I try to bunch plants together that have similar growing conditions. But I have grown some plants with different watering conditions close to eachother. But I have just been very careful, like using a watering bucket. I am actually still undecided on the straws I still got a little bit to learn before I do something.

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You may have needed to "hill up" around the lavender b/c the holes for the root balls weren't quite deep enough.

If I were looking at hilled-up lavender in my own yard, I'd ask this question:

==> Will this hill withstand winter rains? Or will it wash down, leaving the roots exposed?

If you're sure that the hill is stable, no worries. But if a strong storm will wash it away, leaving the sensitive roots exposed, better to carefully remove the plants now, before they're completely settled in their new homes, and dig deeper. Dig them out wider than you dug them in, though, to allow for potential new root growth they may have put out (unless you did this just a day or two ago; it's very late and I've been looking at the monitor tooooo long). :)

Hope it works out for you!

Cynthia

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applestar
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It's actually pretty important to tease out the pot bound roots. If you can't then cutting through them to create growth points for new root branches is better than popping the coiled up roots in a hole in the ground because a year from now, you may "pop out" the exact same container-shaped rootball.

You'll be amazed how long the roots can be, growing up the sides of the container and wrapping around and around.

I always snicker at the Home Depot gardening season commercials in which they pop out a shrub or tree from a container and pop the container shaped rootball in a flower pot-shaped hole exactly just big enough, without doing any other prep work.

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PunkRotten
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Well thanks everyone. Today is the 3rd day its been in the ground. So later today I will dig it back up and make some adjustments. I will try to move it back a little if I can as well.

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ReptileAddiction
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I'm sorry but strawberries will NOT work there. Those plants are awfully small for 3 years. I would go dig it up and put it where you were going to put the berries.

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edelweiss
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I was suggested by a neighbor to grow lavender. I have heard lavender spreads like crazy, just like mint. Is that true? If, how else could I plant it for I love the smell of it.

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PunkRotten
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ReptileAddiction wrote:I'm sorry but strawberries will NOT work there. Those plants are awfully small for 3 years. I would go dig it up and put it where you were going to put the berries.
Why wouldn't they work there?

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rainbowgardener
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edelweiss wrote:I was suggested by a neighbor to grow lavender. I have heard lavender spreads like crazy, just like mint. Is that true? If, how else could I plant it for I love the smell of it.
No not true. Lavender does not put out rhizomes like mint. It mostly gets to be a bigger and bigger bush. Actually if you are in zone 5, you are right at the limit of cold hardiness for English lavender and too cold for the French varieties. Being so cold, lavender will die back in winter. It will not spread and it will not get very big. Give it some winter protection to be sure it survives.

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applestar
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I'm inclined to say there may be some points to re-consider about planting strawberries in front of these herbs.

1. Cynthia mentioned the water needs issue
2. I'm thinking you would fertilize the strawberries or any veg's you grow, ending up supplying more fertilizer than you'd want to give herbs which tend to lose their scent when over fertilized.
3. Lavender prefers "lime" soil and so do sage and rosemary. Strawberries can take a range of soil pH but prefers a little on the acid side and can even share pH range with blueberries.

How about planting more herbs and making this an herb garden all together? I'm planning to plant Mexican Mint Marigold a.k.a. Texas Tarragon next year and am thinking that might be a good fit here. Thyme and oregano maybe other choices as well as marjoram.

Looking at the photos, I curious -- where does the rain spout drain out? Also, does the air conditioning unit condensation water drain out somewhere near here too? -- I've planted water-loving raingardens to take advantage of the rain spouts, and I have a swamp azalea that was sustained by the a/c unit condensation drain in its young years. (Now its huge and has grown deep enough roots to survive the yearly drought)

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edelweiss
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Thank you rainbowgardener for your info on lavender. Will try next year to grow ,,English Lavender'' as you suggested.


WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO GROW LAVENDER FOR NEXT YEAR :?:

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edelweiss
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Good morning Marlingardener how are you? Thank you for your so prompt reply. That's what I thought!



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