On 5/8/07 23:33, in article , "Anne
Jackson" wrote:

The message from Sacha contains these
words:
"Anne Jackson" wrote:
The message from "'Mike'" contains these words:

Have to agree with Sacha, layering from a pot is not really easy :-))

I managed it once. I had been given a 'pink' lavender, somewhat
nondescript flowers, but the perfume was superbe. It grew a bit
leggy and lanky, so I bought a much bigger pot, put the old plant
almost on the bottom, and surrounded all the branches with compost.

The leggy branches eventually rooted, and it became many magnificent
bushes, all in the same pot. After that, I propagated it a branch
at a time, as there wasn't a pot big enough to take all the plants
if I should let it happen again...

That sounds both a perfect solution and very clever. But not, perhaps,
ideal for a complete beginner? ;-)) I do like the idea of a sort of
Lavender satellite, though!

I don't know, Sacha, I was pretty much a 'beginner' when I tried it,
otherwise I would've known how hopeless a task it was, and taken
proper cuttings! BG I hadn't thought of it as a 'satellite'
but that's what it was, wasn't it! I actually walked past the
pot tonight, and the smell from the flowers was magnificent...

There's definitely a lot to be said for the "not worrying just doing it"
approach but Stephen might risk his whole plant if he rips bits off it
without taking the normal cuttings first. Once he's taken off that wood, he
can't put it back! And if it *doesn't* grow back........ Anyway, the RHS
site is clear and helpful, showing how to take the cuttings and use the
hormone product, so now he can choose which ever suits him best, or try both
as an experiment!
I do remember in my very early gardening days dividing up some iris and
moving them and a more experienced gardener was aghast that I'd done it at
the wrong time of year. Luckily, I didn't know that and the iris hadn't
read the books and they thrived on my ignorance. ;-)
Ray always says that more plants such as lemon trees are killed by the owner
anxiously hovering over them than by any benign neglect!

I may have to propagate it, and give some plants to my grand-daughter,
who wants lavender plants outside the door of her flat...

The other thing that's lovely outside a door but probably too tender for
your area, is the Aloysia triphylla (used to be Lippia citrodora) that
gorgeously lemon scented shrub. I always used to have some near a door and
brush its leaves as I walked past it. But it's hard to beat lavender,
either in a bed, hedge or pot and it looks lovely underplanting roses, too,
if it's one of the shortish forms.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'