It's been doing really, really well since I planted it. I took everyone's advice as to how and where to plant it, pretty much left it alone, and it was thriving! But then over the weekend I noticed all this brown stuff on the lower stems. Is that normal? Many of the plants in the garden are going through changes as the season is drawing to a close. Some are getting leggy, some are just starting to die away...whatever they're doing, it's obvious they're reacting to whatever imperceptible (to me) signals that the weather and environment is sending them. Is this brown stuff on my lavender just that? Or is something else going on? Here...here's a picture of it, for comparison, shortly after I planted it, when it was flourishing and had started to flower.
Have you had a lot of rain this summer? And is there plenty of room around it to have good air flow through it? I would cut out the brown stems and if you do get a lot of rain this time of the year maybe put it in a pot that you can move to a sheltered spot, they really do not like a lot of water.
I have a lavender planted in a pot on my deck and it is doing the same thing. I have lavender in the back garden and front garden that are NOT doing the brown leaf thing. Maybe this is just coz I've been regularly watering the one in the pot......hmmm - will shove it into the garden this fall and see if it recovers.
As hot/dry as it was mine actually wilted eventually looking like this and now has new foliage coming back in.
Thanks so much for all your replies. Does lavender die back completely during the winter. Y'know, sort of go to ground, only to reappear in the spring?
No it doesn't die back in winter (to come back in Spring) it stays it's lovely self all year round, unless the temperature gets cold then it just dies. It's a native to the Mediterranean area - north Africa/southern Italy, they do best in dry, well-drained soil, they prefer sandy or gravelly soils in full sun but if the soil is dry and warm enough they will survive other places.
