I'm amazed to hear everyone comment on how difficult it is to grow lavender. I've been growing it my entire gardening life, and it's always one I took for granted as guaranteed to grow when nothing else will. Whether it was from seed, transplants, or spindly leftovers at the end of the season, lavender has always done well for me. It usually more than doubles in size each year. I give it a serious trim every spring just as the new growth is starting to show on the woody stems. I do try to put it where it will get as much sun as possible, and the ignore it. No extra water, no fertilizer, and it grows like a weed. Now, watch. Now that I'm aware that it can be a challenge, all my year-old seedlings from last year will fail to return this spring. Murphy's rule. Well, good luck to all of you. Martha

'Moonbeam' Achillea/yarrow apparently doesn't produce viable seeds. I checked Swallowtail Garden Seeds' website and 'Moonbeam' isn't featured which suggests seeds produced by that cultivar (if any) will not germinate or, if they did, produce identical plants. The parent plant would have to be vegetatively propagated from original plants of that cultivar.

Up here in the north I can pretty much move anything I want when I want, and fall weather will probably get here a bit before the official First Day of Fall. Anyway, I can't really advise you about what you should do. What came to mind when I read your post is a) Don't you have a lot of season left to go yet? Might be better to wait till fall weather is closer & b) Did you cut back your Walker's Low after its first big flush of blooms? Even in my shorter season catmints need a hard haircut at least once a season. Mine were cutback about the first week of August and have regrown & are now blooming again. Yours probably need two haircuts each season at least. I am always amazed at how neat & tiny the plants are after being cut back. A haircut might solve some of your problems at least temporarily. As for the sprinklings, mine get it too. Doesn't seem to bother mine much, but I don't have to water a lot here, so that may make a big difference. I really appreciate catmints because, despite their drought tolerance, they do well in my wettish clay soil as long as I plant them a bit high. And it gives me a soft grey green foliage plant (silvers & greys are a bit hard to find for my garden) when the flowers are gone - making a nice extended season for only a few moments of clipping time.

I use a shovel in the spring when it is easiest to divide - when I see a good amount of new foliage on the plant. I just cut out a section of the "mother" plant without lifting it from the ground. Just refill the hole you leave with soil. It's easy. If the foliage is already grown out long when you do the dividing, just give the "kid" a trim when you transplant it. Cameron