Lavender propagation help needed.

Perhaps this kind of question might sound stupid, but… since I have no experience in herbaceous plants, I’ve decided to post a comment in this forum.
I want to buy a couple of lavender plants and then start to propagate them myself. I have a small piece of land (may be 80 mts. by 60 mts.) and of course I don’t want to buy all the plants I need to cover this area with lavender. It rains pretty often there. Soil is deep black, rich in humus.
Should I propagate them by seed or by cuttings. I have no idea about any of these methods so if anybody has a clue or a good tip to give so I can follow… I’m all ears!!!!

Hi Gus., My lavender do it by themselves! They layer themselves on the ground and spread that way. You can separate the new plants then. Or you can do cuttings. I don't see seeds when my lavender bloom, but then I'm not really looking hard either. I do see the bumblebees and butterflies hanging around them so I guess some pollination goes on. But more lavender people will chime in, I am sure, with their experiences. And I do recall a thread on this forum about lavender, so if you didn't do a search you should. also check the fragrant gardening and herb forums; lavender posts show up there too.
One more thing, you say it rains pretty often. I don't know how good that is for lavender, being it originated in the Mediterranean, which is fairly dry. You may want to experiment with a couple of types to find the one best suited for you, like maybe an English lavender. And rich soil is not what lavender likes; it is known to grow in fairly poor soil. So check out the folks who sell lavender and see what kind of weather they have and what kind of soil they use. And you do know that there are a few species of Lavendula, not to mention lots of cultivars. Are you growing for a commercial purpose? for cut flowers, dried flowers, or the oil? The answers to these questions will affect your decision too. Good luck! In case you couldn't tell, I love lavender; right now I'm growing 4 types, and one of these was started over 10 years ago from 3 small plants. Now it has spread all over the area meant for it by layering itself.

Can't help on the propagation, but I'll second what bbinj said about growing conditions for lavender. There have been many posts on various forums here from people living in the southern part of the US (Florida, etc) who have terrible trouble growing lavender, it tends to rot because of all the rain, humidity, etc. The places where lavender does well are the Mediterranean climates like California where you have very low humidity and almost no summer rain (and usually terrible soil too!) They can put up with some moisture in the winter when the soil is cold, but when you combine warm soil in summer (or maybe even in winter in your climate!) with moisture, it encourages fungal growth which ends up killing them. Would you give any consideration to planting something other than lavender? You have such a great climate for growing all sorts of wonderful plants, I'm sure there would be things that would do much better for you to fill up that space. If you know what your requirements are (like fragrant flowers, attracting bees, certain height, etc) you could post on some of the other forums (possibly perennials, tropicals, or fragrant gardening depending on what you're looking for) and I'm sure people would have tons of suggestions for you of other things you could plant.

Lavender grows like crazy here in my yard in Arizona about 1000 feet, avg 7 inches of rain annually, rocky alkaline soil. Reseeds readily. I've grown French, English and Spanish easily.

Closer...

Thank you all! I think I'll consider something else! I'll see! Perhaps I'll show you a picture of the land I'm talkig about and then you can help me choosing what to plant!

I live in middle GA and have success growing spanish type lavenders. My soil is very sandy but we do get the high humidity and heat. Have grown them both from cuttings and seed. You can wintersow lavender seeds.
Digs

Thank you all!

=)

Aguane,

How much do you water the lavender or do you have it on drip?
Thanks,
Mickey