Question 1

Why is my lavender dying?

Accepted Answer

Nearly always too much water, too rich a soil, or the wrong pruning — and often all three. Lavender is a Mediterranean plant, and most of the ways people look after it are actively harmful.

**Drainage is the biggest killer.** Lavender evolved on poor, stony, free-draining hillsides. In heavy or clay soil, and especially through a wet winter, the roots sit in water and rot. Plants often survive summer and die between November and March. The fix is drainage rather than watering less: plant on a slight mound, work in grit generously, or grow in a pot with a gritty mix and plenty of drainage.

**Rich soil and feeding** produce soft, leafy growth that flowers poorly and does not survive winter well. Lavender does not want compost dug in and does not want fertiliser. Poor soil produces the compact, aromatic, long-lived plant.

**Pruning at the wrong point, or not at all.** Lavender does not reliably regenerate from old wood. Cut back into the bare woody base and that section usually never regrows. The rule is to trim after flowering, taking off the spent stems and about 2–3cm of the current season's green growth, always leaving green shoots below the cut. Done every year from planting, the plant stays compact. Left unpruned for several years, it becomes woody and sprawling, and cannot be renovated — the answer at that point is replacement.

**Overcrowding** causes fungal problems; lavender wants air movement around it.

English lavender is considerably hardier than French or Spanish types, which is worth knowing before buying for a cold garden.

Question 2

What is dormancy, and why do plants die back?

Accepted Answer

Dormancy is an active, regulated shutdown rather than a passive response to cold — plants prepare for it in advance, and understanding that explains a great deal of seasonal gardening advice. How a

Question 3

What is a plant's Latin name telling you?

Accepted Answer

Rather a lot, once you know what each part of it does — and it is the only reliable way to buy the plant you actually want, because common names are inconsistent and frequently shared between

Question 4

How do you overwinter tender plants?

Accepted Answer

By recognising that different plants fail for different reasons — some are killed by frost, some by winter wet, and some simply by being too cold for too long — and the right protection depends on

Question 5

Why did my plant die after I repotted it?

Accepted Answer

Almost always transplant shock, made worse by one of a small number of repotting mistakes. The plant did not die from being moved as such — it died because the root system could no longer supply the

Question 6

What is deadheading and why does it work?

Accepted Answer

Deadheading is removing spent flowers before they set seed. It works because it interrupts the plant's reproductive cycle and redirects its energy. A flowering plant's purpose, biologically, is to

Question 7

Why does a plant look worse at home than it did in the garden centre?

Accepted Answer

Because it was grown in conditions you cannot reproduce, and what you bought was a plant at an artificial peak rather than a plant in a stable state. What commercial growing does to a plant: Ideal

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