Lavender: Perennial Flowers into Bonsai Tree [Bonsai]
Lavender is a wonderful blue flower. As a prized perfume fragrance, it makes any summer day feel cool and breezy enough to take an afternoon ciesta. Recently I discovered this flower also makes a great addition to a bonsai garden.
In this container I am growing Lavender. The stems are developing woody bark like a tree, but they do stay somewhat narrow in thickness.
Recently I trimmed off all of the blossoming stems, and I plucked off the old leaves, and the many suckers growing in between the stems. Lavender has a strong habit to become a shrub with many clustering branches.
Originally I grew this plant from a seed, and it was very slow growing and fragile at first, but now it is super hardy and strong. I planted it in coconut coir and compost, so the soil is very soft, moisture retentive, and drains well.
It wants to become a bonsai tree and join my permanent collection. What can I say? "Welcome aboard!"
Below, I am re-sharing some photos I have shown in the past. Everybody loves to see a plant when it is in bloom, so I wanted to make sure to include them in this post.
Spring clusters form into open flowers in June.
Historical Information
ID: 0037
Nickname: Unnamed
Type: Lavender (Lady Lavender)
Age: 2 years
Grown: seed
Last repotting: 2017?
Wired: Never
Since lavender is a flower with a strong pungent scent, it attracts many different beneficial insects for the garden.
As a container plant, I like to pick up and move this plant to various locations, near to any plants suffering from aphid attacks. As a multipurpose companion plant, it helps nurse nearby vegetable garden plants to develop a better immunity to pests. Mint is another good container plant you can do this with.
One lavender plant can become a mother plant to help create many new plants. Don't bother with the seeds, because they are difficult to germinate. I was able to grow my plant from seed, but it wasn't easy, and I wasted a lot of seeds, and I had to wait two years for flowers.
Instead, consider making a cutting. Any cut branch can be rooted in the soil very easily. It will become an exact clone of the parent plant, with the same quality of flowers.
If you want to grow lavender at home, it is best to buy an established plant from a nursery when they are in bloom. This way you can select the flowering type you enjoy most, and you won't have to wait for the flowers to develop years later.
Lavender flowers last about a month in June. It is an evergreen plant, so it keeps its leaves all year long. In winter, the leaves turn almost icicle white as they develop a frosty white fuzz.
Be sure to follow my work this week. I'm in the process of sharing the whole host of bonsai trees in my collection. There is over thirty trees I am growing. That means you can enjoy more than a month of fresh content from @creativetruth's back porch.
Share the goodness with me.
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.
Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.
#lavender #flowers #flower #blossom #summer-flowers #perennial #companion-plant #evergreen #winter-plant
These shots are so special wow
Companion bonsais: such a versatile term!
Best place for mint is indeed a container! Good thing my garden is waiting to be demolished (borders up against fences, as inherited from previous house owner, must be removed or neighbours will never talk to me again), because I've let the (various varieties of) mint go rampant! Does make a very fragrant end to the summer.
Very inspired to take better care of my potted lavender, which I have been scandelously sort of waiting to give out on me for the past decade or more, having been unsure where to plant her in the ground, faintly fearing it would really be the end of her, to sometimes wanting to preserve her in her pot for the valiant lonely flower or two she gifts me; very bedraggled, and often left to dry out too much, I understand now that she wanted to be treated as a companion, first and foremost to my tenacious but fragile heart.
I shall be giving her full bonsai attention from now on.
If its really looking like it wants to die, why not start over with a few fresh cuttings, and keep the best one? Some of my herbs, like thyme and oregano, when they become too woody, they become less productive. That usually is a signal to me, it is time to prune off the old woody parts.
I'm not so sure it wants to die! How can you tell? If it still has the energy to put out a flower when I least expected it to, I can't be swayed to give up on her yet.... Hence my new inspiration to take better care of her. I've heard that digging lavender in a few cm deeper than they stand normally might help... Worth a try, perhaps, next spring....
Very true: refreshing the plant is the best option. But I fear my lavender is all too woody for cuttings...
Lavander is a pretty plant with awesome flowers @creativetruth, it surely attracts the eyes especially if done as a Bonsai too.