Growing them in a container is fine, but I don't think you will find any other California native evergreen plant that can go all summer/fall in the same container without some summer watering. Perhaps best to combine with Clarkia amoena to extend the season abit into summer, and then when this goes, move the pot into a spot where you won't be tempted to water it, and replace with another pot of other California natives like Diplacus or Zauschneria for summer into fall color, or some of the perennial grasses.

I have 50 one gallon pots with lavender grown from seed last year. I had planned to donate them to a non-profit plant sale usually held in June. The group decided not to have the sale this year. The pots are now full of roots and impossible to water enough to maintain the plant. I have over the last two days soaked them all, 8 at a time in an old wash tub. I will now root prune them and add new soil and time release fertilizer and also cut back the foliage about 25% to get them in condition for my next plant sale in October. Timing is everything in the nursery business even if it is all donated. Al

thanks! I'm passing this along...

Apparently it is not fixed, because I went looking for a Native Plant forum to direct a new member to and couldn't find it in the directory. Neither was there a link to it under the only forum about natives that shows up in the directory, the Native Plant Exchange. Another member had to post a link to a thread for it.