Pac—I did some searching. It turns out that I know this plant. We call it, zilverkaars, which literally translates to, “silver candle”. There are several species. Thanks again for mentioning this one.
Today I decided that the lavender plants from cuttings, and others, might benefit from being outside during this relatively mild winter, so far. It's overcast so I don't think they need shelter at the moment. They are hardy here. I had them in the sunroom, because these young plants are not as tough as old ones. Still, no frosts recently and I think they would survive a mild frost now. Five grey leaf Spanish lavender, grown from cuttings last summer. Also three culinary sage plants started from cuttings last summer. The variety Godwin Creek Grey, which I thought might not do well over winter outside, because of buying the plant late in the year. And a plant started by TLC of a broken - off piece from a 24 year-old plant. A French lavender plant. Supposedly they are less hardy, so I have one inside to overwinter, and one outside, for comparison. Not lavender - these are Rosemary plants I started last year from cuttings. I didn't think they would all grow, and started too many. The big plan is to plant most of these in the xeric / deer resistant / fragrant border, in early Spring. That will give a head start for 2025.
Daniel putting them out now is a good idea almost like hardening off for outside. Once your lavender plants are planted and established they will reward you forever with fragrant foliage and blooms.i put the blooms down on the carpet when vacuuming leaves the house smelling fresh and relaxing. Sjoerd glad you are familiar with the plant called ‘Silver Candle’ in your country. Just a little extra fragrance in a collidescope of texture and colors.i’m looking forward to your garden next spring.
Daniel— Will you cover the little beauties with anything while they are outside? You know, something to keep the wind off them? Pac— Nice tip. I very much like their fragrance. You are such a thoughtful woman.
One thing I’ve learned is how important well-drained soil is for lavender. I mix in a bit of sand or grit when planting to keep the roots from getting too wet. I’ve also had great success propagating new plants with cuttings—just stick a healthy stem in some soil, keep it slightly moist, and it usually takes off pretty quickly. Layering works well too if you want a bigger plant without much effort. If you’re into crafts or DIY, lavender’s uses go way beyond the garden. Learning how to grow lavender opens up all sorts of possibilities.
Lovely lavender plants. English lavender is my favorite. It is hard for me to grow, but a local friend has huge beds of lavender and it grows fantastic for her. I bought a plant from her last spring. It is still doing good, I think. I hope it hangs on a long time. She sells a lot of plants and produce from her garden for part of her living. Local stores here do not have huge varieties of same/similar species of plants and seeds. If I want something different, I have to go online or to catalogs and hope I can find what I want. They only offer ever bearing strawberries, no June bearing berries, and only 1 variety each year. They do that with most other plants too. Part of that is that the store employees have no clue how to care for the plants, and they lose a lot of plants. Sometimes they get marked down when dead or dying. The other summer, one local store was selling dead lemon trees for half price. They were in pretty containers, but no I am not buying dead plants. Even so, a lot of plants do not survive even with the best care. I like aromatic plants myself.
This week the nights have dropped into the mid 20s F, so I've been bringing them inside for the night. It's not the wind, here, but the freezing that concerns me. My oldest lavender plants are about 25 years old and I have never protected those. I think little plants in containers might be more tender. They are big enough, that I don't want them to grow a lot more before I plant them in the ground. That will probably begin in a few weeks. @AAnightowl I think English lavender is a little more hardy than Spanish, and both are more hardy than French. So far, my only lavender that shows freeze damage is French. Last summer I found a dwarf Russian Sage that grew a little like lavender. Interesting leaf scent. I don't know if it will survive the winter. Rosemary fills kind of a similar leaf scent and toughness niche, but grows really big. Mine grew about 5 feet tall. I'm gradually shortening them to about 2 or 3 feet tall. I don't know how severe pruning they can take. I think they are a little hardier than lavender but Im not sure.
I have rosemary plants. Sometimes they survive several winters and then die. Sometimes they don't survive even one winter. Rosemary gets huge in southern CA. I planted more blue sage this summer but it did not bloom. It is a perennial, so maybe in the spring or summer it will bloom? It does not like too much mulch. I accidently put too much mulch where I had it before, and apparently smothered my red sage and my blue sage. I hope the new sage survives winter. I plan to get more when I find seed for it.
