lavender HELP!

[ltramont]

I planted several different kinds of lavender in its perfect space last spring, and it grew, flourished and bloomed over and over again. I am a new gardener, so I was pleased as punch. I harvested the flower wands and pruned it to specifications last fall. It is late April in zone 5 (Chicagoland area) and there is no sign of life on these guys. The daylilies, oriental lilies, peonies and salvia are all coming back to life, but the lavender stays dormant. I had put hay down for the winter and have removed it, but have yet to amend the soil and add mulch this spring (stomach flu), but there should be some sign of life, right? Should I prune them down to the ground?

[Newt]

Hi Itramont,

I wouldn't recommend that you mulch lavender.* If your lavender was covered by snow for a long period of time this winter it may not come back.* You don't say which lavenders you have but it sounds as if none of them have come out of dormancy.* Here's some helpful sites.
http://www.mountainlavender.com/faq.html
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com...areandtips.htm
http://lavenderfleece.com/lavender.html

Newt

[ltramont]

I planted three English, four Spanish and about 10 French lavender plants in a sunny area facing south next to the house/garage. As a novice gardener, I experimented with just a few plants at first, but when they began growing like mad I planted more because I love lavender. We had a hot summer drought but I kept all my plants and my lawn watered. My plants tripled in size and bloomed like crazy into the late month of November when they were shocked by the first frost. It was very much out of my control, unfortunately, but we had very little snow this year. All of my plants have bounced back except a hydrangea and all the lavenders. The soil is good, the root systems seem fine, there are no visible pests, just woody skeletons sticking out of the ground. I've read most of the site info out there and I cannot figure out why these seemingly well-established perennials have failed. I'm afraid to try more things and have them fail as well.

[Newt]

Gosh, that is strange!* Maybe they're still sleeping?* Seems odd that they would all die with so many varieties.* Maybe you could call the Chicago Botanic Gardens and ask them when their lavender wakes up.
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/

I'd love to know what you find out.* My daughter used to live in North Chicago.* Gosh, it was cold in the winter!!

Newt

[ltramont]

I dug one plant up today and am taking it to the nursery tomorrow, from which I bought it. I will DEFINITELY let you know what I find out. I harvested a ton of lavender buds last year. If you have any ideas, I'd be greatful. We had a mild winter, comparatively speaking--only had to shovel three times!

[Newt]

I would love to know what you find out.* Let me know if you call the Chicago Botanic Garden too.* I'll bet they'll tell you if their's is sprouting now.

The only thing I can think of is the beds where they were planted were too wet over the winter.* I didn't have much success with them in my garden and finally gave up.

Good luck!
Newt

[Sweetpea]

[align=left]Although this post is not timely I mention that lavender should not be trimmed back. When the flowering stems are removed they should be cut just down to above the first set of leaves. The rest of the plant should never be trimmed below this point. As lavender ages it will become woody and scraggly looking but that's normal for the plant. It will still produce blooms if left alone and cut as described above. One can remove any broken or lifeless branches as needed. :([/align]

[backyardgardener]

Did you add mulch around the crown of the Lav?* Was is a wet winter?*