How Do You Care For English Lavender?
English lavender (Lavandula angustifolias) is sturdy perennial that is a low-maintenance plant as long as its few needs are provided. Like all lavenders, it needs sweet soil and dry feet to ensure a healthy, long-lived, shrubby plant with aromatic foliage and flowering spikes. Ensure the soil surrounding your English lavender is fast-draining, and transplant it if it’s in a boggy, wet location or in heavy clay that doesn’t drain. All lavenders are highly susceptible to root rot. Test the soil pH to ensure a level between 6.5 and 7.5. Dig in lime if the soil is too acidic, as lavender requires a slightly alkaline soil. Prune your English lavender after it blooms, cutting back both the spent bloom stems and the foliage to about two-thirds of the previous length. Feed your English lavender with an annual top-dressing of compost. Additional fertilizing is unnecessary. Mulch around your English lavender to suppress weeds. It is important to use a dry, non-absorbent mulch (bark or gravel), a
