Plant high and use some sand in your soil. I've had success with several cold hardy varieties and container plantings.

Fossil, I dig my hole and mix one part sand, one part compost and one part decent soil. I also mulch with sand to increase oil content. I love lavender it excells for a few years but as mentioned it does die off after that. I spend more for the sand and compost than I do for the plants but find it so worth it. Best of luck and fragrance to you! Rhonda

Or make your soil a mix of soil and mostly Chicken Grit (Oyster Shells). And the soil should drain freely.
(Rosemary has survived for me planted on granite chicken grit with some but not much soil).

Does anyone know which variety grows best and is most fragrant here in TN?

Provence has been hardy for me. It seems to me that winter moisture is often more of a problem than winter temps. I have noticed the same problem in many Mediterranean plants (Rosemary, Mediterranean fan palm, heather, etc.)

I also want to grow lavender this year. Where can i buy Chicken Grit ( Oyster shells ) Thanks so much.

Also is it safe for me to put my geranimums outside, or should i wait a little longer. I left them in pots and brought them all inside this year and they flowered lovely all winter.

Ladyofengland----our official frost date is April 15, so if you're going to put those geraniums out, keep an eye on the forecast. I checked in my garden journal and apart from the hideous Easter weekend freeze, last year we had frost on April 16. Of course, let's hope we NEVER see another year like last year!

I had wanted to grow a large garden of lavender but was told that wouldn't be a good idea. I am in Tn zone 7.

Also was told be better to start with plant than seed?

if I went thru with my plan of whole garden

Janes,

Take a look at Richters in Canada a source of plants of different sizes and seeds as well.

You might want to try several lavenders this year and see which does best and then evaluate you plan.

There's a fairly new variety out called "Phenomenal" that I intend to try this year. It supposedly is very tolerant of heat and humidity (for a lavender, at least). That's always been my problem: not cold hardiness, but them "melting out" in the humidity of summer. I REALLY, REALLY want to grow lavender with some of my roses.

I'll also try your suggestion of chicken grit for drainage, Ann. In a raised bed. With a fan blowing on them. And a special incantation by a witch doctor, lol.

John

" I REALLY, REALLY want to grow lavender with some of my roses."

While this is a very popular practice in theory, it is not at all advised. The two different plants need very different growing conditions. Roses prefer a rich, organic soil, lots of water and lots of fertilizer. Lavenders need a very lean, fast draining soil, minimal water and no fertilizer, ever. The only thing they have in common is a liking for sunlight. If you plant to the two together, supplying the conditions one needs is going to make the other plant unhappy and vice versa.

Try planting the roses with hardy geraniums (cranesbills) or with cat mint, Nepeta. A much better match.

Gardengal, trust me, I know that WANTING to grow lavender and being realistic about it are two different things. For instance, lavender won't grow here AT ALL, EVER (red clay, summer sauna humidity, high summer rainfall) outside of a pot or raised bed, with a grit mulch; so it was a rather tongue in cheek post. Ann is local to me, so she probably got (or will get, when she sees it) the joke. If I grow lavender with my roses it will have to be in those aforementioned pots, sitting on rocks, with a fan blowing on them, with that incantation... and I do already grow at least 5 different kinds of nepeta, six varieties of geraniums (including the ubiquitous Rozanne, and the rare and much better Orion), and multitudes of blue-ish spiky/frothy/creeping perennials with my roses, which number somewhere in the hundreds. I'm hardly a rank beginner, but your suggestions are appreciated on behalf of those who are ;)

I still intend to try L. Phenomenal, lol.

(tongue-in-cheeky) John

I've been attempting to grow lavender for a few years now and have never been successful until this year (so far anyways)! I tried so many different tips from the internet and researched so many different online sources. This year I decided to just go with my gut instincts since I am usually pretty descent in the garden. I bought 3 small plants from the local box store and planted them in one of my raised beds. I used compost that I make myself using a fresh batch that had more pieces if sticks and a few rocks than the batch I made that is only compost/soil. So it has descent drainage. They get about 6 hours of full sun starting in the morning around 8am and until 1 or 2pm. I used to follow the advice of minimal water and only watering when the soil is very dry. But this year I water about every other day regardless, UNLESS we had a heavy rain and the soil is saturated. The plants are doing great after 1 1/2 months! That's longer than I've ever kept any in the past. They have flowers and everything BUT they don't seem to be growing much in size. They have broadened out a bit, but not much verticle growth. I don't feed them other than a few scoops of very fresh and smelly compost every couple weeks. Any ideas on how I can achieve faster growth? Or is this pretty normal for lavender grown in middle TN? I basically just wanted to share my experience in case someone finds it helpful. I posted a couple photos I took as I'm writing this. Unfortunately I don't have any taken the day I planted. But they have almost doubled in size within the first month (they were pretty small when I put them in the ground). But no change in the past 2 weeks. Thanks everyone!!

Hi, Donovan Sanchez. I stumbled across this forum by accident (I guess there are some good things about the new format!). Eastern part of TN, 7b here.

I'd say that's normal growth, particularly since they are young, new, and doubled in size the first two months.

I've had 2 very huge lavender bushes, in 2 locations here, both sun. One morning sun, 6 hours just as you describe, the other in afternoon sun, most the day. Both did well. Both planted in soil amended with sand when first planted and lots of gravel added for good drainage. They lived 8 and 5 years, growing larger every year. I cut them back early each spring. Then year before last they just died about mid summer. I replanted, forgetting to add sand and rocks, and sure enough, about mid summer they just stopped looking good and eventually died.

I think mounding them, adding sand to the soil if needed, and lots of rock for drainage, and depending on the lavender (and I'm not proficient enough about lavender to know more than this) they prefer to be fairly dry, but not bone dry. I wish you luck with your lavender (I intend to replant next year).