Lavender - the ideal location in the garden and on the balcony

• The ideal location in the garden
• The ideal location on the balcony

Lavender is a plant with at least Mediterranean or even warmer home, the most important in the ideal location - whether garden or balcony - is therefore a protected, warm location and sun, sun, sun. The other claims of a lavender are rather easy to fulfill.

The more cuddly, warmer and sunnier the place is that you think of a lavender, the more abundant and rich in essential oils (scent, aroma) is the flowering, the sooner an "almost winter-hardy" lavender will come well over the winter. This is how the location of your lavender should look like.

The ideal location in the garden

Lavender has a few but strong claims that you should meet and can do with very little effort:

• It needs a sunny location, in all areas of origin of lavender the sun shines much longer than ours
• The location should also be well protected, in the lee of a wall or higher plants
• In fact, lavender does not like cold and strong wind at all, and certainly not in winter
• However, a lavender may not stand too much, because it does not like high humidity
• For the same reason - increase in humidity - lavender should not be mulched (especially not with acid bark mulch)
• It would be perfect, if the sun is barely held by the slipstream and warm breezes ever come over

• Lavender grow in their home mostly on dry (mountainous) soils, and the soil in the garden should be well drained and certainly no moisture damaging
• A location on a hill, which is often quite dry in the summer, is often accepted, with dry phases lavender gets along well
• Heavy to medium soils should be made more permeable and lean by intermixing sand
• In fact, lavender does not like too much nutrients; it is used to a rather barren supply
• Add a little bit of lime, lavender grows best in soils with pH values ​​of 6.5 - 8.3
• An exception is the Lavandula stoechas (Schopflavendel), which tolerates only lime-free to slightly acidic soils

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Note: Lavender is not a neighbor to moor-bed plants like some rhododendrons because they grow in acidic soil.

In addition, lavender is only marginally a neighbor to roses, although the partnership "lavender and roses" is so often summoned: although roses tolerate similar soil pH levels (5.5-7), they need significantly more nutrients for their abundant flowering than the frugal lavender. Therefore, lavender should never be planted between roses (and never in a tub of roses), but at most outside in the bed, around them. The roses then get compost in the spring in proper distance to the lavender, only this is how this neighborhood works.

The ideal location on the balcony

On the balcony, of course, lavender has no other requirements than a lavender in the garden. If your balcony is in the right location, you can even better meet those demands:

• In densely populated areas, the climate is noticeably milder than in the open countryside in the surrounding area
• Houses designed by thinking architects are illuminated by the sun for a good part of the day, as is the balcony in front of the house
• If a sheltered sunbathing spot on a warm wall can be found on such a balcony, then this is the premium location for a lavender
• Incidentally, in Germany lavender tolerates every sun, even the blazing midday sun
• The bucket must be big enough, root + a few inches to the sides and down
• If you buy a lavender in a pot, it should also be quickly repotted in this bucket
• Most of these plants are not in the best substrate, often more roots than soil in the pot
• As ground he gets garden soil, if necessary potting soil with fine sand / gravel in the tub, like with a little bit of lime
• It is important to have a working drainage layer in the bucket, with a drain hole protected by potsherds or larger pebbles
• Thus, excess irrigation water can always run off, but lavender should rather be poured sparingly, the earth may not dry out completely
• That's it, in spring after the cut a little organic fertilizer, mulching with white sand to increase the abundance of flowers
• Lavender in the bucket is repotted when it is too narrow in the old pot, possibly trimming the root tips, in the next larger bucket

Otherwise, you only have to cut your lavender enough to prevent it from lignifying, to give it protection in winter and some water on frost-free days, and even to bring it to the house in the event of excessive frosts.