LAVENDER CUTTINGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1938, Page 9

LAVENDER CUTTINGS

METHOD OF CULTIVATION. Cuttings of lavendar, inserted now, root readily and will form shapely little bushes for planting out in autumn. If there is no room in the flower garden for a lavender hedge, so valuable for its fragrant blooms, the vegetable plot is the next best place. There the rooted cuttings can be planted on either side of the path. Lavender does best in the full sun and in a light soil, containing lime. If this mineral is lacking, any form of lime can be dug in some time previous to planting. Almost any portion of an old lavender bush will root if inserted with about nine inches of the lower part of the shoot below ground. The cuttings may be straight pieces of last season’s wood, or side branches pulled from the old plant with a “heel” of the old bark attached. Cuttings should be about 12 inches long and the simplest way to insert a number is to dig a trench nine inches deep, then place one inch of sand at the bottom. Push the cuttings into the sand at three inches apart. The soil is then returned and trodden firm. If planted in this way, there will be nine inches of the cutting below the soil and three inches above. If a dry period sets in, the cuttings should be watered frequently until heavy rain falls. A short single row of cuttings will provide plenty of plants for a lavender hedge, for each rooted cutting will eventually need to be planted at two feet apart. Cut the plants with the shears lightly each season after flowering and they will keep compact and shapely.