by Matt Gibson
Lavender ( Lavandula ) is a fragrant and beautiful evergreen bush known for its spire of blue - green to silvery gray foliage , each crowned with light purple blossom . Versatile lavender hedges honey containers , sunny border location , and gravel and herb gardens , and they make the perfect pick for outlining a landscape gardening division . Whatever your reasons are for add up a lilac-colored hedge to your garden , the steps in this clause will give you all the info you need to get started as well as keep the hedgerow looking beautiful .
The hedges produce one to three understructure gamey and one to five feet broad . Lavender is fairly easy to grow . Its flowers draw the middle with their pleasing colour and unique shape , and combined with the refreshing and inviting scent , make lavender a favorite of gardeners around the world . lilac hedges are deer tolerant and attractive to bees and otherpollinators that are highly good to all the plantsin your garden .
Lavender grows well anywhere near the sea , as well as in rocky ridges and loose land beds . There are many different varieties of lavender available for gardener to choose from , so selecting the good one for your specific billet is all important . ensure to study the next section , which lists different types of lavender along with their specific needs and functions , so you could select the type or few varieties that will be most at home in your yard .
Just in face you need one more grounds to convince you a lilac hedge is the way to go , the hedging give your property an eco - friendly windbreak , which helps reduce soil dry out and wind erosion , and as a resultant deoxidise the focus on surround plant , increase their yields in the process . Choose the positioning for your hedge carefully to make the most of this benefit .
Varieties of Lavender
There are dozens of different types of lavender on the grocery store that you may develop yourself . Most of these choices fall into three different species : Lavandula angustifolia , Lavandula x intermedia , and Lavandula stoechas .
Lavandula angustifoliais the most commonly grown var. of lavender , and it ’s also call true lavender or common lavender . cultivar from this species are known to create high timbre lavender oil , so the angustifolia type is most commonly grow and harvest for just that purpose . Common lavender is a late outflow to midsummer pratfall , as well as a corking choice for mass planting , edging along walkways , hedging , raised wall beds , and John Rock andherb garden . Angustifolia cultivars are generally compact , feature minute gray - greenish leaves and shortsighted , thick flower spikes .
Lavandula x intermedialavender specimens are typically taller than plants of the angustifolia variety . The two depart in appearing , too , with the hybrid get dumb hill of green - grey foliage and retentive , loose flower spikes . Also bid lavandin , this species bloom from center to late summer and is as well suited to be part of a hedgerow or characteristic as an accent plant . Lavandin cultivars are slimly less intrepid than their angustifolia siblings , and they ’re often grown and harvest to be an factor in fragrant potpourri blend .
Lavandula stoechasis more tender than its sibling varieties , but this type revel hot weather and thrives in USDA horticulture zones eight through nine . Also cognize as French , Spanish , and butterfly stroke lavender , Stoechas cultivars are great as part of container garden and mass plantings . Stoechas plants tend to be more spectacular and visually appealing than their cousin-german , blooming almost continuously from the heart of spring all the way of life until late summer . This cultivar of lavender is recognizable because of its standout bracts , which inventive phytologist have observe resemble highly embellish ears sitting atop the plant ’s curt , dense leafage . ,
Growing Conditions for Lavender Hedges
Lavender plants call for full sun for at least half a day . Most lilac varieties are hardy to USDA zone five through nine and prefer inadequate soil , with a pH ranging from 6.4 to 8.3 .
How to Make a Hedge With Your Lavender Plants
For upright results , situate your lavender hedgerow in a situation that gets at least 12 hour of sun exposure each day , and cultivate a 12 - inch panoptic strip where you be after to make your lilac-colored hedgerow . Loosen up the soil to about six to eight inch rich in this strip and the ecumenical vicinity where your hedging will be plant using a rototiller or a garden jigaboo .
After loosening the grime , create a six - in - high ridge on the top of its open , bestow surface soil , compost , or well rotted manure . The raised land bed will encourage dodge along with a more obtuse and compact style of plant growth than you ’d otherwise achieve .
Test yoursoil ’s pH tier . With any luck , the meter reading will fall somewhere between electroneutral to alkaline , or between 6.4 and 8.3 , when you test it .
If your grunge is on the acidulent side , you will need to make some adjustments to make it salutary habitat for the lilac hedgerow . During the fall , before you do your leaping planting , thoroughly workplace dolomite or solid ground lime into the soil where lavender will grow to raise the alkalinity . Alternatively , use fast - act birdlime pellet just before you do your leaping planting in the fall .
Once you get the pH layer where you require them , start better your ground with two and a half pound of lime for every 25 feet in duration of that 12 - inch - wide raised bed strip that you built up originally . Space your lavender plants out about 10 or 11 in apart , and put them smack splash in the eye of the hedge .
irrigate the the hedging bed often , take away care to keep the soil moist — but not wet or soggy — all throughout the first growing season . Once they ’re found , however , lavender beds will postulate no further avail for you as far as hydration , because they promptly become drought - tolerant .
Prune back your works from the top by one - third in the early spring to boost more flowering and bushier vegetation and foliage outgrowth .
Double Digging to Maximize Drainage for Lavender Hedges
Soil that debilitate well is a must for lavender hedges , as this evergreen recurrent herb can sometimes fall dupe to fungal disease if the soil conditions are too wet . If your beds are not drain efficiently , use the twofold excavation method acting as a prompt mending to get your garden back on track .
First , remove a 12 - column inch - wide funnies of soil that ’s about a nigga ’s length deeply to create a trench , then go under the removed filth aside . In the bottom of the trench you just created , chop up the soil with a garden ramification or spade . Drop the putz into the soil until it is fully submerge , then lightly move it back and forth to loosen the soil . Then mix the soil you transfer with manure or compost and fill the oceanic abyss , creating a mound on top of the hedgerow .
Use This Landscaping Trick For Staggered Lavender Hedges
Another coolheaded way to arrange your hedges is to stagger the rows a moment . To attain this outcome , you ’ll first make a slurred hedge base by exposit your soil ridge to be 24 or 25 inches wide . Then double up the rows of lavender plants , making two separate rows spaced 12 inches asunder . Instead of placing the lavender in each row mighty next to its neighbor , stagger the plants so that those of one row fall midway between the distance separate the plants in the other row .
Pruning and Additional Care of Lavender Hedges
Pruning lavenderin the other spring is an essential practice to advance a bushier lavender hedge . This footmark also increase the flowering capabilities of your flora . Lavender also call for above - average air circulation for prevent being easy prey for disease .
Do n’t crowd your hedges by planting anything else too close , and be persevering in your effort to keep your hedgerow mound free of mourning band so that the lilac plant have nothing to compete against for air and nourishment .
Videos on Planting Lavender Hedges
Check out this light video from Garden & Lawn about how to plant a lavender hedge : This terminated step - by - step templet instruct you the requisite of how to rise lilac hedging , whether in the reason or in a container : Watch this video to discover how to use hedgerow flora to create a born fence or privateness hedge in your own back railyard : Still a piece fuzzed on exactly how to prune properly ? This tutorial explains precisely how , when , and how much you should cut your lavender hedges : Check out this in - deepness tutorial on how to correctly harvest , dry , and store lavender :
Want to Learn More About Growing Lavender?
The Gardening Channel squad is no stranger to lavender culture . We ’ve created articles to help you learn more about this wonderfully delightful florescence plant — how to grow it successfully , its many uses and health benefit , and how to prune and care for your lilac-colored plants .
More Resources on Growing Lavender Hedges
Gardenia continue Creating a Lavender HedgeGardening Channel ’s Growing Lavender ArticlesHGTV covers Types of LavenderSFGATE Homeguide covers How to Make Hedges of LavenderPreparedness Mama covers Planting a Lavender HedgeRoyal Horticultural Society pass over Lavender
