Lavender in a window box

United Kingdom

I am having difficulty growing lavender in my window box. I have 3 plants in a zinc container on a window sill at the front of my house that look very sorry for themselves!! The container is approx 90cm long, 15cm wide and 20cm deep. The box gets sunlight throughout the majority of the day, is in normal soil with shingle drainage at the bottom of the container. I've been watering fairly often in this hot weather but the plants look straggly and leaves are brown and dry near the base of the plant. The flowers are dying off now and am too scared to prune in case this is the death of the plants! Please help as this is the second time I have tried to grow lavender in this box and I really want to succeed!

29 Jul, 2008

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Answers

Majeekahead

Hi Camilla, i would guess that it is drying out to quickly and maybe the roots are getting too hot, i would imagine a Zinc container would pretty much cook the roots. lavenders do prefer to be in the ground, but if you really want them in a window box i would maybe try to change the container. i have found that lavender does ok in terricotta posts, or large wooden boxes as long as they are kept well watered and mabybe include some water retaining gel to help them out. good luck.

29 Jul, 2008

Camilla

Thanks for your response Majeekahead. Will look into changing the pots and the water retaining gel. Let's hope this does the trick!

31 Jul, 2008

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