Lavender

Recently I was visiting a friend and by chance I liked beautiful flowers of a delicate lilac color. I immediately guessed that it was lavender and asked my friend the secret of growing such a plant.

In this article I will tell you about all the tricks and secrets with which you can grow such a beautiful flower with an unusually pleasant aroma.

Lavender varieties.

Lavender, like many plants, has a huge variety of varieties. I have collected several types of lavender, you can choose any you like.

Narrow-leaved - a variety that is suitable for growing in cold regions of the country. Lavender is blue or purple in color. It is this variety that tolerates frost and cold weather well. The height of the bushes reaches approximately one meter.

Hybrid - a species that has purple flowers. The height of the bushes is no more than two meters. This species is considered one of the most popular in Russia.

French - if you want to grow lavender right on your balcony, then this variety will suit you seriously. And all because this species does not like the cold and grows to a height of sixty centimeters. By the way, the French species also have subspecies. Such as rocky road, rigal splendur, tiara and many others.

There are many more varieties and subspecies of lavender, but these are the most popular.

Planting lavender

You can plant lavender in three ways:

Let's consider each method separately.

Cuttings.

If you already have lavender bushes, you can propagate them using cuttings. It doesn't take much time and labor.
To begin with, take cuttings from any branches, it doesn't matter. This is best done during the spring or summer season.

Keep in mind that the length of the cutting should be about eleven centimeters and have several nodules. This will help the plant grow faster. For best results, you can also buy a plant growth stimulator.

Now we take a pot for our cuttings and fill it with a certain substrate, in which compost and perlite must come out in a one-to-one ratio.

After that, we take the offshoots and cut off from each a process about twelve centimeters long with two nodes. We do it all with a knife; it is absolutely impossible to use scissors. Now you need to stick the stalk into the ground about 2-3 centimeters. Such processes take root quite quickly, after rooting it is worth replanting to the chosen place.

Seeds.

To begin with, the seeds must be prepared for planting. It will take about a month and a half. To do this, mix the seeds with sand, close the lid and put them in the refrigerator. The seeds must be kept there for 1.5 months.

It is worth sowing seeds in May because it is at this time that there is less chance that frosts will return again. To plant seeds, it is recommended to buy special soil mixes from specialist gardening stores. This will save you time and effort, because it's really easier. We plant seeds at a shallow depth, a maximum of 6-7 centimeters.

Layers.

This is the easiest way to grow lavender. The only thing is that there will be a small amount of plants as a result, which is really frustrating.

In order to plant lavender in this way, you will need several branches. We plant the branches so that the middle part is in the ground, and the stem itself with flowers on the surface. Then you just need to water and spud.

Note that any type and variety of lavender needs good lighting with plenty of sunlight.

Lavender: care rules

Caring for lavender is really not difficult, so taking care of such a beauty will be quite simple, for this you need:

Frequent watering of the soil.

In winter, undercut bush.

Application of special fertilizers.

Pest and disease control with special products from stores.

These rules are easy, so you can take care of the flower without spending a lot of effort.

Lavender benefits

This wonderful plant also has some medicinal properties. Here are some of them:

Helps cope with insomnia and nightmares.

Helps relieve coughs and respiratory diseases.

Helps with hemorrhoids.

It also helps against arthritis and various female diseases.

As you can imagine, lavender is really easy to grow in the country. It is possible to grow it even at home. Thanks to her, you can enjoy wonderful aromas and even get rid of some diseases.