Potted lavender - home care

Indoor lavender is a perennial shrub with healing properties, a delicate aroma of essential oil. Previously, it was considered only an ornamental plant, actively used for landscaping gardens and flower beds. Now this moody flower is grown at home. Moles and mosquitoes hate its smell. This plant will get rid of annoying insects in the house.

Lavender: plant varieties and origins

Lavender has no central stem. This plant belongs to the Yasnotkov family. On its shoots, inflorescences appear in the form of ears of white, pink or purple, depending on the variety. It has a pronounced dormant and growing season.

Potted lavender

This plant has 47 species and several hybrid forms, differing in bush height, bud shade and resistance. Some types are considered suitable exclusively for open ground. Others do quite well at home.

Potted Varieties

The most common varieties for indoor growing include:

• Narrow-leaved lavender (English). This perennial evergreen dwarf shrub is considered the most unpretentious and frost-resistant species cultivated in Russia. The height of this plant reaches a maximum of 30 cm. The inflorescences are on long stems, which are covered with narrow, elongated leaves of a gray-green hue. The flowers are blue with shades of lilac and purple. The flowering period is July-August.
• Lavender broadleaf (French). This species is characterized by the presence of wide leaves and thermophilicity, is the ancestor of decorative varieties. Caring for him is necessary exactly the same as for other relatives. This lavender has beautiful flowers in various shades. The plant lacks the pronounced smell that the English variety has. This species blooms from April or May to July. But at the end of summer, flowering can occur again. The height does not exceed 60 cm. The most beautiful representative of the species is lavender with butterfly-shaped flowers.
• Lavender toothed. The plant got this name because of the cut leaves of a silver hue. Large fragrant flowers appear in the middle of the summer season. This plant belongs to the thermophilic species. Designed for indoor cultivation.

The origin of the plant

Lavender has been known since antiquity. She is native to the Mediterranean, Canary Islands and India. In the distant past, dried lavender flowers were used for water treatments. The ancient Romans added her bath to the water for washing hands before eating, with the help of it they washed things. Because of this, the name of the plant from Latin lavare is translated as "wash".

Lavender has been used as a cure for infectious diseases. When there were epidemics, the Romans made lavender fires in front of their homes. Over time, lavender has become known around the world. Essential oils were made from it, lavender became a symbol of love and beauty, it was grown in gardens, used for cooking.

Lavender field

Potted lavender: home care

Not everyone grows lavender in a pot in an apartment. Grooming is very important to her. Providing all the necessary conditions will lead to a positive result:

Temperature

Lavender is sensitive to temperature extremes. For each variety, the minimum and maximum temperature indicators need to be specified. Usually lavender does not feel comfortable at temperatures below 5 ° C. The shrub prefers to bloom at 18-20 ° C. Overheating of the root system is dangerous for the plant. It will lead to rapid drying and death of the flower.

Lighting

Good lighting is essential for lavender. Any shadow will lead to discomfort. It is recommended to put lavender only on windowsills from the east or south side. During the dormant period of the plant and on cloudy days, backlight should be provided. The minimum daylight hours for lavender is 10 hours. In winter, you can illuminate the flower with a fluorescent lamp.

Watering

The plant does not require strong and abundant watering. Watering is recommended 1-2 times a week in summer at moderate temperatures. In winter, the plant should be watered no more than once every 2 weeks. Watering is reduced only for the dormant period. The water temperature should be similar to room temperature. Watering should be done early in the morning or in the evening.

Spraying

The plant requires regular spraying. It is especially necessary in winter if the flower is near the battery.

Humidity

Waterlogging for this plant poses a greater threat than a lack of moisture. However, a severe drought of the soil will negatively affect the flower. If lavender suffers from central heating or dry air, humidifiers are recommended.

Priming

For planting, you should use a universal soil designed specifically for home flowers. If desired, you can make a special soil. To do this, you need to mix sand or fine gravel, as well as turf, humus, leafy soil.

Top dressing

For lavender, soil is not required that contains many nutrients. Provided that it is transplanted every year, it can do without feeding for a long time. However, for an active and spectacular flowering, it is recommended to feed the plant every 2 weeks from spring to autumn.

Watering lavender

Features of care in winter, dormant period of room lavender

The main question that arises for those who have indoor lavender: how to care for it during the rest period? When the shrub has faded, it must be pruned and removed from the dry leaves.

For the winter period, the bush falls asleep. For this time, it is recommended to move it to a cool place away from hot batteries and heaters. It is necessary to maintain the room temperature at 17-19 ° C.

Pruning lavender

When and how indoor lavender blooms

Shrub flowers form in June. The plant can continue to bloom until autumn, more precisely until October. During flowering, the plant blooms flowers. From them inflorescences are obtained, turning into spikelets. Each spikelet contains 6-10 buds.

The shape of the leaves of each species can be different. It is worth adding to the above types of shrubs:

• monsted, whose purple inflorescences rise above the stem;
• hidkot, which has strongly branching shoots and large flowers of a blue-violet hue;
• southerner requiring stratification for growing at home;
• stekhadskaya, which has inflorescences of such shades as white, cherry, lilac, purple and green;
• butterfly with flowers of blue, lilac and dark purple shades.

Flowering lavender

How indoor lavender reproduces

Lavender propagates in two ways: from seeds and using cuttings.

Seeds

Seed growing is rarely used as it is time consuming. To grow a lavender seed, you need:

1. Sow it in a prepared container with sandy soil.
2. Water, bury and leave for 30-40 days. In this case, the temperature should be from -5 to +5 degrees.
3. Then move the box with seeds to a well-lit, warm place for the first shoots to appear.
4. Landing in open ground in May.

Cuttings

The method of cultivating lavender shrubs by cuttings is more effective. First you need to cut off annual shoots from the plant. Then it is necessary to divide them into 10 cm segments. The lower part should be rooted at an angle of 45 ° C and treated with a rooting stimulator. After that, the cuttings should be immersed in a 1: 1 mixture of sand and peat. They are covered with a film, after rooting, the cuttings must be planted in pots.

Transplanting room lavender

To transplant a plant, you will need a plastic pot with drainage, expanded clay, soil enriched with potassium, glass perlite to improve soil properties, a growth stimulator Zircon for irrigation.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Take a container and mix 5 liters of earth with 1 liter of perlite in it.
2. Pour expanded clay on the bottom of the lavender pot so that air flows from below to the plant, and the top layer of earth never remains in stagnant water. The layer should be 2-4 cm from the bottom.
3. Pour the earth with perlite into the pot and make a hole.
4. Take a bush and plant it in a hole.
5. Add 10 ml of growth stimulant to 5 liters of room temperature water and pour over the edges of the pot.
6. After the water drains, fill the holes that appear with earth.

Planting lavender and caring for it at home is not that difficult.

Transplant lavender

Possible problems in growing indoor lavender

A shrub may stop growing if its root hits the bottom of the pot. It is recommended to select deep pots for planting. The room in which the plant is grown must be constantly ventilated. Growth will slow down in a stuffy room. You can ventilate the plant on the balcony.

Do not overdry the soil. The plant should not dry out, otherwise nothing will help it. Excessive moisture can lead to gray mold. In this case, the stems begin to fade. If the shrub is affected by gray rot, it is recommended to transplant the plant.

If you follow all the rules of care and provide this picky plant with proper conditions, it will respond to care with beautiful flowering and a pleasant aroma.