Plans for Lavender Seedlings

Earlier this spring, one of my assignments from Family Handyman was to write an article about how to grow lavender from seed.

With pictures.

Which meant I had to actually grow lavender from seed so I could take pictures of each step.

So off to the store I went to purchase two packets of lavender seeds. I found two choices: English lavender which is Lavandula angustifolia and ‘Lady’, which is a variety of English lavender that is supposed to flower the first year it’s grown from seed.

Since most lavender doesn’t flower in its first year growing from seed, ‘Lady’, as I recall, was a big deal when it was introduced.

As you can see from my picture, I successfully grew many lavender seedlings which I ended up putting into three pots so they could grow a bit while I decided what to do with them all.

Between those three pots, there are about 18 seedlings.

But those 18 seedlings aren’t from the first two packets of seeds I grew. Nope. I got one seedling from those two packets. So I went back and bought another packet of English lavender seeds, and from those seeds, I ended up with plenty of seedlings to finish the assignment.

I’m telling you, if you need a lot of a particular plant and have some time and patience, growing them from seed is an economical way to do it.

Now I have 18 lavender seedlings, give or take. Cost? The price of one packet of seeds (or three if you are going to make me count the cost of the first two packets too.)

I’m going to plant several of them near some chairs where I presumably could sit and admire the garden in the evening or early morning when it isn’t hot outside. Having the lavender right there makes it easy to run your hands across the leaves, which will make your hands smell “real nice,” like lavender.

I’m going to pot up one or two into their own pots and turn them into houseplants. They’ll come inside with me and we’ll see how they do over the winter.

I might leave at least one seedling in each of those pots and see if they’ll overwinter outside if I plunge them up to the rims in a nursery bed.

I think I’ll still have a few left over after planting a few out, potting a few up, and leaving a few in those pots.

I guess it’s time to reach out to sisters and friends to see who wants a homegrown lavender seedling or two!

(Now imagine the lavender seedlings in those pots talking to one another, arguing over who gets to be a houseplant, who gets to be planted out, who has to try to overwinter in the pot, or who has to pack their little roots to go off to some other garden, never to return? Oh my, the lavender tears of goodbye after they’ve been growing root-to-root in the container, no matter where each one ends up. Hmmm… that would make a good one-act play. Maybe… when I have a bit more time…and have them all dispersed to their new homes…)