According to the original source, lavender is a plant that got its name from the Greek lava, which in Russian means washing. This determines its primary historical purpose and indicates that the ancient Greeks and Romans considered lavender to be a plant intended for washing and washing.

Content

1. Lavender. Scope of application
2. Lavender. General overview and species diversity
3. Planting and care, necessary measures  video
4. Lavender in landscape design. Growing lavender at home

Lavender. Scope of application

Years passed, and in the modern world, the range of use of lavender has noticeably expanded, as it has long been recognized that lavender has decorative and medicinal properties, which led to the expansion of the scope of its use.

Unpretentious lavender, fascinating with the beauty of its purple inflorescences, has found its application in landscape design and interior design, as well as in cosmetology and medicine.

The aromatic bouquet that surrounds the lavender flower has a calming effect on the central nervous system, as well as the ability to eliminate headaches, and dried sprigs of lavender can protect clothes from the destructive effects of moths and fill them with an original delicate aroma.

Lavender. General overview and species diversity

From the point of view of botany, lavender is a decorative evergreen shrub, the silvery narrow leaves of which perfectly harmonize with spikelets attractive to insects, the color scheme of which varies from lilac to bluish-white. If you were lucky enough to see lavender at the peak of its flowering, then, feeling the sophistication of its cold aroma, you will not remain indifferent to it, and there is no need for it, because planting lavender is available to everyone who every day wants to inhale its rich, tart aroma.

More than 25 types of lavender are known, the most common of which are true lavender or English lavender, Dutch hybrid lavender and French or broadleaf lavender, which differ not only in shape and color range, but also in their exactingness to agricultural activities.

True lavender refers to light-loving mountain plants, characterized by high drought tolerance. Despite the fact that it belongs to the group of heat-loving crops, it is resistant to low temperatures and is able to withstand temperatures up to 26 degrees below zero, and when the temperature reaches 5 degrees, it goes into a state of suspended animation.

Planting and care, necessary measures

It is desirable to grow lavender on soils previously exposed to high-quality aeration and having an alkaline or neutral reaction of the medium. Optimum soils for these purposes will be sandy and loamy soils, provided that moisture is normal or insufficient. Weak growth of lavender can be observed on swampy and heavy clay soils, as well as on soils with close occurrence of groundwater, salinized and soils with acidic reaction.

Planting and propagation of lavender is often done through cuttings, which is a fairly easy event. In this case, the cuttings must be rooted to a depth of several centimeters in moist soil, followed by covering with special material, which is designed to protect lavender from temperature instability until the onset of heat. It is worth noting that if you plan to organize a dense fence, the cuttings should be planted as close as possible, and if you want to admire the splendor of isolated bushes, it is advisable to observe a certain range when planting.

In contrast to grafting, planting lavender seeds is a more time-consuming process, requiring a lot of time. Before planting, lavender seeds are recommended to be kept at a low temperature, which can be done by placing the seeds in a refrigerator for up to one and a half months, which is called stratification.

After this procedure, seeds are planted to obtain seedlings. For these purposes, the seeds are sown in boxes with the ground and observe the temperature regime from 10 to 20 degrees, and after germination the seedlings are planted at a distance of about five cm from each other. And only with the onset of May, stronger seedlings are planted in a permanent place in the open ground. In the first year of planting, flowering should not be expected, since during this period of time the root system of the plant only develops, but next year the plant will certainly please you with purple inflorescences.

Activities for planting and caring for lavender are made up of several components, the main of which are timely cultivation and watering of the plant, pruning of twigs, as well as fertilizing and high-quality preparation for the winter of a thermophilic plant.

Watering lavender requires familiarization with certain features of this plant, which are the exactingness of the flower to the level of soil moisture. When caring for lavender, it is forbidden to allow severe drying out of the soil, while excessive watering is also detrimental to lavender, since its root system is extremely sensitive to excess moisture.

Trimming lavender is necessary due to the decorativeness of the bush, because, being an integral element of an alpine hill or rockery, lavender would be more appropriate to look in the form of a beautiful, formed and even bush. Pruning involves the removal of excessively long shoots that stand out from the general outline of the bush.

The application of mineral fertilizers must be done to maintain the abundant flowering of lavender. Since fertilizers are highly concentrated, they need to be diluted in water at the rate of 2 tablespoons per bucket of water. Nitrogen fertilizers are also necessary to maintain the growth of lavender, but extreme caution must be exercised when using them, since nitrogen is capable of causing more abundant growth of foliage than of lavender flowers.

It is necessary to mention the preparation of the plant for winter. A snowy winter is much more disastrous for lavender than winter with a lot of rainfall. In this regard, it is necessary to prepare a reliable shelter for the plant, especially in cases where the temperature drops to minus 20 degrees. Correct shelter of lavender involves laying spruce branches, over which protective material is laid.

Lavender in landscape design. Growing lavender at home

Lavender is an ideal plant for all types of landscape gardening.

Anyone, whether formal or informal, will ideally accept lavender as a solo element. It is ideal for creating low hedges, which are used to strengthen embankments and slopes, as well as for landscaping gravel gardens.

Lavender will ideally fit into the front and middle rows of the mixborder, in the gardens of spicy herbs, rockeries, and is also perfect for balcony gardening. Growing lavender at home, which is subsequently often used for balcony gardening, is done in pots and tubs. Lavender planted in tubs in the warm season is often used to decorate garden designs, and in winter containers with lavender are transferred to the house.

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Author: Sergey and Svetlana Khuentsov

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