Keeping Lavender As A Houseplant

Let's begin with the "why"

Lavender is, in my opinion, such a classical and romantic plant! When I think of it, I imagine the handsome Mr Darcy striding through a field of it towards me in his dressing gown and a very revealing linen shirt (yes, I know it was a heather field, but just go with me on this one). It's the kind of plant you would expect to be growing beside you in a planter as you sit in a town square café in the south of France, wearing a white summer dress and a wide-rim straw sunhat as you sip ice-tea through a straw gazing lovingly at your lover sat across from you.

Mother, may I...

Who wouldn't want that level of sophistication and grace in their own home? I certainly do!

Lavender is a popular aromatherapy fragrance, it can help to reduce anxiety and stress, encouraging a good night's sleep. A useful plant to have beside your bed, wouldn't you say?

So, is it possible? Yes of course it is! If you can mimic the right conditions then honestly you can keep any plant indoors quite happily.

Whenever I mention that I keep lavender in my home, there is always at least one person who comments, with confusion, how to do just that. My housemate's mother, cared for my lavender while I was settling into my new home, bless her she is the ultimate garden sage (get it?) but the fact I had one in a small pot definitely took her by surprise. When it was returned to me some months later it was looking... less than great. She assured me that she had done her best, given it her homemade compost and even kept it in her lovely greenhouse and encouraged me to keep it outdoors from now on.

I considered it for sure, I am not kidding about this woman's green thumb, it's bright like kryptonite (except... not so murdery... anyway!) but I was ultimately determined to keep it on my bay windowsill. I thought it would make an informative post to share my experience in salvaging it.

Identifying The Problem

Brown-tipped, wilting leaves and brown roots? She had root rot. Unfortunately, the lovely homemade compost gifted to her was far too compact for her and she was retaining a lot of water, and I mean a LOT. I had to remove it all which took some time, but afterwards I was able to see that not all of her roots were dead. So I gave them a good rinse in the shower and with clean sheers, pretty much gave her a much-needed haircut!

Hydrogen Peroxide Bath

I'll do a post on hydrogen peroxide uses in houseplant care at a later date, but for now, just know that there are various ways to use it, and once you get the hang of it, you'll never want to be without a bottle in your cupboard! For this purpose, I mixed a 1:1 solution of hydrogen peroxide (3%) and Brita water in a small container and soaked the roots for about 10 minutes. The fizzing was intense so I guess it had a lot of bacteria to kill!

Potting Lavender In The Home

A quick google told me my lavender needed to be in chalky, well-draining soil. I mixed some of my organic houseplant soil with some extra perlite, about a 2:1 ratio since my soil already had perlite in it, and then I went ahead and potted her up! Due to her root loss, I was able to downsize her considerably. Ideally, she would be in a terracotta pot. I'll probably discuss different pot types more in the future, but essentially, the fact they are made from clay and are not glazed means they are very porous and provide plenty of airflow to soil and roots. Terracotta pots are a great preventative method against root rot too! Since I do not currently own any terracotta pots, and for the sake of getting her repotted immediately, she was moved to a terracotta-coloured plastic pot instead, that's close, right?

I skipped fertilising her because I felt she had been through enough stress so simply gave her a good watering and then took her straight up to my bedroom where she now resides on a south-facing window in full sun for most of the day. I think she is quite happy here, in the last week her stems have strengthened and her leaves are pointed upright with plenty of new growth.

It should be smooth sailing from here on, I'll be sure to post an update on her in the summer. I hope this was a useful post for anyone thinking of keeping lavender in their home. I strongly encourage it, she is indeed a plant that just keeps giving once you find the right combination of soil and location. I love her, last year I made some lavender stress-relieving bracelets from old scrunchies, I'll post a tutorial, at some point, they're a super easy craft to make good use of the buds when you prune your plant!

Well, that's it! My first post is done and dusted! I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought in the forum!

Give a like, and subscribe to be informed of new posts! I'm thinking of doing this once a week, to begin with, which gives me time to plan-t ahead (get it?)

See you next week my darlings!