Non Blooming Lavendar

by Anita Wollman
(Sioux Falls, SD)

Looks all dried up, how can I rescue it?

1st I bought 36 plants thru the mail, they all died. So then I bought 2 plants at my local nursery. They looked AWESOME in the summer. Full sun all day, fed it monthly, grew em in pots so I could bring them in over the winter, as suggested by person from nursery. They never bloomed, not even one litte hint. So, they had started looking more like a "trailing" plant then anything else and I trimmed the ends off. When I brought them in, because none of my windows give a lot of light, I put them with my other plants by the grow light, it is a full spectrum light, other plants are thriving there and loving it. I am attaching a pic, they are sad looking. All dried out, although I've watered them enough. Even put water in the plastic container they are in so they could soak it up thru the bottom. HELP! what did/am I doing wrong? I live in South Dakota, by the Iowa border. I see other lavenar around and they keep em out all winter and just mulch about 12-15 inches. I didn't want to do that, since I also grow my Asiatic Lillies in huge pots and bring them in the house over the winter, but in bare roots.

Doug says it's really tough to see from this picture (it's out of focus) but I can tell you that 1) this pot is way too small 2) if the plant is straggly, it's not getting enough light 3) lavender wants a dormancy period and keeping it growing all winter is not going to be good
4) watering - you need to follow the rule that says water when needed (when the soil starts to dry out) rather than "lots" or how you water. Use your finger - touch the soil - if it comes away dry, then soak. If it comes away damp, then walk away.
5) You don't say whether you're feeding but container grown lavender needs regular feeding with a good organic water-soluble fertilizer.

Hope that helps. Good luck