Monthly Tips

May - Plant of the Month

Lavandula stoechas

The scent of lavender is the fragrance of hot summers, blue, blue waters, olive trees and food eaten outdoors. A lot for an aroma to carry I admit, but for me, lavender pulls it off.

[Lavandula stoechas]

I used to live in Ashland, OR, an altogether hotter, drier place than Seattle. Lavender grew like mad there. Here, I often find lavender disappointing. It doesn't get as big and lush as the lavenders I saw in Ashland. Of the 3 main species of lavender, Lavandula stoechas seems the happiest in Seattle.

Lavandula stoechas' common name is Spanish lavender, but really it should be known as rabbit ear lavender, because it has 2 little purple petals sticking out the top of the flower stalk just like rabbit ears. I can't pass one by without giving the rabbit's head a squeeze and inhaling the delicious scent.

Lavenders are evergreen subshrubs (woody at the bottom, tender on top) and want sun, sun, sun and well-drained soil. They don't like super-rich humusy soils nor do they like scads of water (particularly hanging around their roots all winter). Think sunny slopes for lavender.

Lavenders need trimming right after they bloom. When pruning lavender you need to think like a goat. Nibble off (probably with pruners or hedge shears rather than teeth) a few inches of the tender top growth. This forces new growth further down the stems and helps prevent the dreaded bare woody buildup seen in old lavenders.

Given their specialty needs, why bother with lavender? Because when you walk by and rub that little rabbit's head you'll have the scent of the Mediterranean clinging to your fingers on a misty Seattle day - who would want to miss out on that?

May - Tip of the Month

When Variegated Plants Go Green

Variegated plants often "revert" which is annoying since you you wanted a variegated plant in that location, and undoubtedly paid the price for that variegation. In what can be a surprisingly short time, your nice variegated plant (probably a euonymus - notorious reverters) goes green.

If you'd been paying attention, you would have seen that there was a period of time when you had a partially variegated, partially green plant. Given that the all green leaves have more chlorophyll and can therefore make more food and support themselves better than their only partially green neighbors, the green branches soon overtake the variegated ones and sadly, you now have a green plant.

[euonymus reverting]

Euonymus reverting

Once a variegated plant has turned green, you're toast. You've got to live with your new green shrub (which is likely to get bigger than the variegated one - all that chlorophyll again) or buy a new variegated plant and watch it like a hawk. The moment you see an all green branch, prune it off. Never let it get away from you. You have to be the hawk. It's the only way, trust me.