Growing Lavender In Containers

When you think of lavender, it’s easy to picture a light purple flower with an extremely sweet fragrance. These pretty bluish-gray hued blooms, ranging from deep purple to light yellow, coupled with sweet fragrance are the perfect choice for one’s garden and even terrace. The woody, perennial plant has been long-favored by most gardeners to adorn their garden and flowerpots. This drought tolerant plant is easy to grow and sustains in almost all conditions, despite its Mediterranean roots. Planting lavender plants on containers can bring beauty and fragrance to your otherwise boring terrace or patio deck. Contrary to the popular belief, container gardening can be as effortless as maintaining your perennial patch, and the design opportunities it offers for enhancing the look of your property will have you filling pots with lavender year after year. To know more on how to grow lavender in containers, read on.

How To Grow Lavender In Containers

Before planting a lavender plant into your flower pot or container, just pause a while to consider the right location for your plant. Since lavenders loves to sunbath, that is they grow best in full sun and need dry, hot conditions to flourish, it is best to place them in a location where they can soak maximum heat and sunlight.
All potted lavenders require a good drainage at the base of the container. A lavender plant is likely to suffer under soggy conditions. Well-drained pots will help drain out the excess water and thereby assist the soil to dry out. You can use about ½ inch to 1 inch of loose gravel at the bottom of the pot, to ensure that the water does not sog up the container.
The potting medium must allow for good water runoff. A well-drained potting mixture is a must if you plan to pot your lavender plant. A good sandy potting mix, which easily allows for the water to drain away from the root ball, is possibly the best bet for your lavender plant.
When planting a lavender plant, it is important to choose the soil with care. A mixture of peat, vermiculite and perlite is one of the best choices, but well-aerated, ‘fluffy’ soil is fine too. For this, just mix a little dolomite with handful of sand and put it over a layer of gravel, arranged in the bottom of your pot. You will need extra fertilizers to nourish your lavenders in pots. A suitable potting mix with sufficient controlled-release fertilizer will ensure healthy blooms.
Lavender is a tough plant and is extremely drought resistant, once established. However, this plant needs water to keep growing and stay healthy. Adequate watering of the plants should be carried through out summer months, to ensure they do not dry out, since dehydrated lavender is difficult to revive. Winter watering needs to be kept to a minimum. Try to water the lavender at the base of the plant, rather than getting the foliage wet. Also, never over water these plants.
Annual repotting is strictly recommended when it comes to growing lavenders in pots. Repotting once in every year will allow your lavender to bloom in full scale. The best time to repot the lavender would be in early spring. Remember, lavender likes its roots in tight spaces with good drainage.
Lavender plants prune themselves by harvesting flowers. However, manual pruning is recommended to keep your blooms healthy and in shape. The taller varieties can be cut back by approximately one-third of their height. Lower growing varieties can either be pruned back by a couple of inches or cut down to a new growth. However, refrain from pruning your lavender if you live in an area where lavender suffers from winter die-back.

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