I seem to have the same problem--a sick goodwin creek lavender plant--and I want to save it. For starters, I live in a condo in zone 7 (Northern VA). I've only had this plant since Thanksgiving and I haven't a choice but to keep plants indoors. *sigh Anyway, on Saturday (1/7/12), I noticed my plant was droopy, so I "soaked" it since it seemed to need water (I don't normally wait 'til this point). When doing so, I saw little bugs in the soil (original soil & pot from the nursery), so I repotted it in a clean 4" round pot. After removing it from its pot (4" square pot), I soaked the root ball in a container of warm (semi-luke warm) water (about 10-15 min) to get rid of the original soil & any lingering bugs. The new soil was a mixture of crushed egg shells (about 1 Tbsp), cactus soil mix and African violet mix with a 1/4 inch of gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage. As I was potting, I misted the soil because I didn't want the roots to be too wet. I just wanted it to perk up and then wait to water again in a few days. It was droopy all day on Sunday. This morning (Monday), it was still droopy. I checked the soil with a moisture meter and it was slightly dry, so I dunked it. I routinely bottom-water my plants and leave them to soak for 10-30 min and then set them aside to drain. This evening, my poor lavender is droopier than earlier. HELP!!!!! What else can I do? I've been battling aphids on other plants, but not this one. This one has been blooming and growing until now. *sniff, sniff Oh, I have 2 fluorescent lights (near the plant tops) shining on my indoor garden (herbs, fern & lavender plants) for 15-17 hrs/day (timer). I have 2 other lavenders (grosso & buchii) that are doing well and one (provence) that I think has died. =0( I repotted it, just like above, but to no avail. The temp is around 65-70 degrees, and my garden is in front of my sliding glass door, which just has sheer curtains hanging, so lots of light still shines. My windows/balcony door are in the west/south-west direction. Ideally, I'd like to put it an hydro/aeroponics system, but now knowing lavender plants like the dry side, that's not a real option. I don't want this to be a 3rd casualty. The first was a munstead because I tried hydroponics with it. The provence was in its original pot and even the nursery employees/horticulturalist from which I purchased it don't know why it wilted. =0( One more thing--I bathed, pruned (when needed), fertilized/watered, checked for pests/aphids on ALL of my plants on Saturday. I use organic/botanical insecticidal soap when necessary. Otherwise, everything is done by hand when possible. Any and all help/advice is welcome. Thank you!!

Can you post a pic of the wound? The biggest thing to do now is to stop moving your plumie. It's extreemly stress full for a plant to move from the garden store to a new home, then inside, then back outside again. Not to mention having it's roots disturbed with repotting. Often times as well Plumeria will come from the growers directly out of the greenhouse with no transition to the outside, which is a huge shock to the plant. You might want to consider giving it some liquid seaweed and or superthrive to help with the shock, but as long as it's still got new growth don't move it. ~Jen

Thanks for the nice comments. Yes, Fran, I began to see it that way, so I am machine quilting it and not picking out stitches when the lines are slightly off, either! If I wait too long, she might not be around long enough to enjoy it. DH says we can send it by airmail, too. I now have about half of it quilted. My back is protesting, but somehow every day I get up feeling all right. LOL You kind folks can see the less than perfect points in the upper left and upper right blocks, to name two. Maybe the picture being a bit fuzzy from adjusting the size has helped obscure its faults. I found out too late that the presser foot I thought was making 1/4" seams was really making slightly wider ones. Too late, I bought a 1/4" seam presser foot at JoAnn's, but on my machine, it is too far to the left and the needle hits it, so I'll have to make do with the old one.

Various people have posted the following comments about their experiences with lavender in Georgia: ----------------------------------------------------- English lavender: Zone 7: "it grows ok...... My lavender is 4-5 yrs old and I maybe should have trimmed it back as it has gotten lots of old growth and does not look very full." Zone 7a/b: ...it's been problematic in my garden here. Of the five or six angustifolia [English lavender] varieties I've tried in the past couple of years, three died back, and then off, fairly soon. If planted in the fall, they grew and looked small but nice during the winter, put on a great spring and early summer show, then tended to get sick with the hot humidity of summer. Qualifying them as good annuals anyway. I do still have 'Seal' as a survivor that's actually looking pretty decent after 2 years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spanish lavender: Zone 7a: "My Spanish lavender is doing great. In fact, it is just now [June 10, 2002], reaching full bloom and looks just swell. Give it a try." Zone 7: "Neighbor has a Spanish lavender that looks pretty good -- it's about 3 years old. PS -- buy plants as I think the seeds were impossible to do." Zone 7: I have lavender stoechas [listed in Hortiplex as French Lavender] that is doing really well. I can't remember exactly when I bought it, but I think in summer of 2002. Then I moved this year and brought the lavender with me. It has grown and really looks good. I amended the soil with compost and plenty of sand. I don't water it much. It's on a slight slope so probably never gets waterlogged. Zone 7a/b: My Select Seeds catalog just arrived, and I notice it offers seed for a selection of Spanish lavender (stoechas pedunculata) 'Fragrant Butterflies." Lavender is easy to grow from seed, so this would be a good way of getting a nice stand of a type that should do better than most. Zone 7b, South Carolina: I have spanish lavender "otto quasti". It's beautiful and from what I have read very suitable for this area. Zone unknown: "For me, lavender lasts for only about three years, then it's time for a new plant as it gets woody and scruffy. There was someone on my street who had Spanish lavender that lasted longer than that, but eventually they replaced it (with more) after probably about 5 or 6 years." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Provence lavender: Zone 7: "I have had the best luck with Lavender 'Provence'. It has come back beautifully for five summers now and is covered up with blossoms right now [mid June]. Some other varieties just disappeared after two or three years. The bees love it almost as much as I do! I plant all my herbs in raised beds in soil that has been lightened up with mason's sand, vermiculite, compost, Nature's Helper etc....they need good drainage. I almost never water my lavender. It doesn't seem to need it! I get 'Provence' at Pike's and Lost Mountain Nursery on Dallas Highway ( Rte.120). Good luck!" Zone 8b-9a: "I have had good luck with Provence lavender. Maybe not as ornamental as others but long lasting strong scent for harvesting flowers. Makes great potpourri!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hidcote lavender: Zone 7: "I started 'Hidcote Blue' lavender from seed this year. It germinated slow (a little over two weeks), but all seeds germinated. I planted the seedlings outside in large containers in early May and they are really taking off! Beautiful purple flowers, heavenly fragrance, and very sturdy plants. Hidcote Blue is compact and bushy lavender that is supposed to do well in the South." Zone 7: This fall I planted the Hidcote and have seen some die back where I pruned off a few flowers. This spring I'm going to give it a dose of lime and shear it back like a shrub and hope for the best. Zone 9b (coastal Florida): "I grow these 3 lavenders; Hidcote, munstead , and fernleaf ......The key with lavender is don't improve the soil ; it likes it loose and sandy / good air circulation / infrequent but deep watering- it virtually looks after itself and the lavender sprays are so lovely and longlasting ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Santolina: Zone 7: I have santolina lavender [listed in Hortiplex as santolina; lavender cotton] at my mailbox. It does very well there. Zone 7b: The grey santolina can look horrible until it's a nice size, then it gets 'domey' and if you keep it cut back it stays in the wonderful shape. I found it an excellent replacement for the frustrating to grow here artimesias. I also grow a lot of the green shrubby santolinas. I appreciate their evergreen quality and they look fantastic next to grey foliage plants because their green is such an unusually pure kelly green. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fern Leaf Lavender: Zone 7: I picked up two fern leaf lavender - lavandula pinnata at Lowe's last spring on a lark 'cause they were cheap and attractive. Really surprised at how well they thrived all through the summer. They appeared to have doubled in width and the shoots were probably around two feet. They lasted late into November and then died back. They are supposedly perennial, but we'll see. It sure was pretty for most of the year. I had amended the soil with compost. Zone 7b: I have the fern leaf lavender too. That seems to be one of the easiest to propagate by cuttings in vermiculite. I enjoyed it immensely the 1st year, but the 2nd year I found it growing in all sorts of wonky directions and quite floppy. This is good if you need a flopper so I put it in some raised beds where it looks it's best 'dripping' down over stones. ----------------------------------- Some general comments: Zone 8: "Lavender will tolerate Georgia conditions better in the Atlanta area than in South Georgia. Down here, it does not do well because of the heat. It might do fine for one year, but after that you can kiss it goodbye." Zone 8b, Florida: "I've had L. x intermedia 'Hortensis' doing very well for me here in north Florida for 3 years. It has not bloomed but has wonderful foliage and has stayed small (-------------------------------- General lavender care: Everyone agrees that all types of lavenders need really good drainage. An online article suggested trying your plants in containers at first, until you find a spot in your garden that they will like. The article also said that lavender may not be very long-lived, so you may have to replace your plants every few years.