Buy lavender: advice & sources of supply

Since sowing lavender is rather laborious, it is usually worth buying a lavender plant. We give tips and show you what to look out for.

lavender (Lavandula) is a very popular garden plant that should not be missing in any herb garden. During the gardening season you can find the Mediterranean herb in almost every garden center and every nursery. There are full-grown plants as well as young plants and seeds for self-cultivation. Even hardware stores and discounters have lavender on offer every now and then. It is sometimes not that easy to keep track of things.

So that you can enjoy your lavender for a long time, you should already pay attention to a few important points when buying plants and seeds. In this article, we will explain to you how you can recognize healthy and high-quality lavender plants.

Buying lavender seeds

Lavender is one of the subshrubs and can not only be propagated from cuttings, but also from seeds. You can also buy these in every larger garden center. Usually it is Varieties of real lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) or to Coppy lavender (Lavandula stoechas). Fancy organic varieties and seeds are also available online. When buying, however, make sure to pay attention to the best before date. Lavender seeds lose their ability to germinate over time. If stored correctly, most herb seeds can be kept for around two to three years.

Buying lavender plants

If you want to save yourself time and effort, it is better to buy early young plants. The price here usually varies according to size, type and age. Even if the offers in the discounter are tempting, you should definitely pay attention to the quality of the plants. If you put a little more money into your hand from the start, you can avoid one or the other nasty surprise. Because only strong, healthy lavender plants will grow well and reward you with rich flowers in the long term. In addition, if anything is unclear, you can certainly advise the employees in the nursery or the garden center better on technical issues than the employees in the discounter.

You can pay attention to the following quality features when buying lavender:

• Existing labeling (type, location, size) and care instructions
• Good development and compact habit
• No damages
• Lots of side shoots
• Good root penetration
• No putrefaction smell

When choosing the variety, be sure to consider the later intended use, because not every lavender is suitable for planting in the garden bed. While most of the varieties of real lavender offered hardy For example, the frost-sensitive poppy lavender is more suitable for planting in a pot or bucket in our latitudes.

Buy lavender: identify disease and pest infestation

Since lavender contains essential oils, pest infestation is hardly an issue. However, mold and root rot occur relatively frequently and can even lead to the death of the plant. Therefore, you should absolutely avoid waterlogging. Choosing the right location helps, because lavender prefers warm, dry locations with a permeable soil. You should only water your lavender during a prolonged dry period. In any case, potted lavender should only be watered when the top layer of soil has dried off. A clay pot with a drainage hole and a drainage layer ensure that excess irrigation water can drain away.

Infestation with the fungus can also be problematic Phoma lavandulae will. This is noticeable by brown spots on the branches, which later turn black. It is best to remove the infected parts of the plant early, because this way you may still be able to prevent the spread.

Where to Buy Lavender

In the garden center you will usually only find the most common types of real lavender and coppable lavender. You may find rarer specimens in perennial nurseries and tree nurseries. It is best to ask around; there may also be smaller nurseries or hobby gardeners in your area who specialize in lavender.

You can also find a larger selection of lavender varieties in online shops such as:

Nursery Horstmann: Large range of different types. Very informative variety descriptions and clear profiles.

Perennial nursery Gaißmayer: Here mainly varieties of the real lavender and the lavandin group (Lavandula x intermedia) offered.

Gartenrot nursery: Offers a small but fine range of different types of lavender from our own production.

Here we have a comprehensive collection of different for you Types and varieties of lavender compiled.