April is a good month to think about planting your Lavender hedge.
Hardy or tender, white through to deep purple, compact or tall & tough, there are hundreds of varieties to choose from (Downderry Nursery and The Lavender Garden have an excellent website to help you choose). Lavenders will thrive in a sunny, well drained position. They do not like dark & damp!
Hidcote is considered one of the best varieties. In the words of a specialist lavender nursery near me in the Cotswolds “a proven winner for over 50 years”. I had stopped using Hidcote because it didn’t seem to survive more than a few years in the mild mild west. Not being one to accept defeat I’ve been persuaded by Andrew from The Lavender Garden that this is due to poor seed raised imposters! The true Hidcote raised from cuttings from the original plant should be more than reliable. As long as its in full sun and a free draining, nutrient poor soil.
Here’s a lavender hedge we planted in 2017 in South Gloucestershire. A walled garden by one of the old mill houses on the River Boyd. The garden had been recently renovated and was lacking plants so the first plan was to get some variety and colour into the garden:
Before:
During:
The 9cm pots were planted in April (client was suspicious of there size but pleased with the economics of younger plants).
By June they were just coming into flower.
One year later, in June
Plant in April, even with small plants a decent hedge will be in place in the first year. Again we used 9cm pots for this new hedge in Abbots Leigh planted Spring 2015.
June 2016 , just one year later and the new hedge is already looking well established. We used the variety ‘Folgate’ for this hedge, a slighty taller, more robust x intermedia lavender. As soon as it has finished flowering we’ll cut it back hard (though still within its leafy canopy as they don’t bud up well from older bare wood). A confident trim will benefit the plant both in terms of a longer life and a better appearance.
