Lavender Hedge

I’ve always wanted a walkway lined with lavender, preferably leading up to the front door, but I’ve never had a house where it would work. With the new front walkway, it was the perfect opportunity to plant one.

Lavender doesn’t do well in Missouri—it’s far too humid and the soil is more clay than anything else. Lavender likes dry, rocky soil so it struggles in our climate. Over the years I’ve experimented with different planting methods and have finally found something that works fairly well.

For this hedge, I trenched along both sides of the walkway and pulled out as much clay as possible. Then I lined the trench with pea gravel to help with drainage and replaced the native dirt with a mix of sand and potting soil. It’s really the only way I’ve found to give lavender the drainage it needs. On the positive side, there is plenty of sun to keep my little plants happy.

 

My lavender will never grow particularly large and I’ll likely have to replace them on a regular basis but I’m looking forward to my new hedge.