How to Grow Lavender at Home in India

With beautiful and fragrant flowers, you are going to enjoy these scented blossoms at your house! Learn How to Grow Lavender at Home in India easily!

Lavender Plant in India

A Mediterranean native, Lavender, or Lavandula spica is an aromatic and herbal shrub. Highly perfumed and beautiful flowers of the plant come in a variety of colors, for example, violet, blue, pink, mauve, and white can prove an excellent addition to your garden decor. The plant is perennial and requires a dry and sunny climate to grow. It is usually cultivated in regions with less rainfall. Lavender Flower in India is successfully cultivated in hilly slopes of Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir valley, and Uttar Pradesh states.

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Different Varieties of Lavender in India

• Sher-e-Kashmir

The flowers of this variety are purple-pink with evergreen leaves. The flowers hang on the slender stems of the plant. This variety is introduced by CIMAP, Lucknow.

• Spike Lavender

One of the most fragrant and Best lavender varieties. The plant of these varieties is easy to grow as they settle fast and can grow up to 12-18 inches tall. After this, they start producing beautiful blue flowers with shiny green foliage that attracts various useful insects and flies like bees.

• True Lavender

Also known as common lavender or English lavender, the variety is mainly cultivated for its high-quality lavender oil. The flowers of this variety are shaded in pink, purple and white, having grey-green,  felty foliage.

• Lavandin

A cross between true lavender and spike lavender, this variety is taller than the true lavender in tolerating the hot and dry weather. This variety is commercially cultivated for its high yield of oil. Apart from this, the flowers have various culinary uses as well.

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How to Grow Lavender at Home in India

Lavenders, being temperate plants, grow best in the areas with average summers and cold winters, thus making the Himalayan states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, etc. suitable for growing Lavander plants in India.

The following are the requirements for Growing Lavenders at Home.

Propagation

You can propagate the Lavender plants through seeds and seedlings, both. Although growing them from seedlings is a better choice as it helps you maintain the quality of the plant in case of large scale cultivation. Moreover, it is the most common method of growing lavenders.

Soil

The soil for growing these plants needs to be well-draining and rich in calcium carbonate content. You can also use poorly calcareous soils but do ensure proper fertilization for your plants every year.  You can add some gravel in the soil to make sure it has good drainage. Sandy soil can be a good option for growing this plant.

Watering and Fertilizer

After ensuring proper drainage holes, water your plants with a little amount as they can survive drought conditions. Besides, overwatering can restrict plant growth or even kill it. As for the fertilizers, provide your plants with cow dung manure at least twice or thrice a year.

Temperature

Lavenders grow best in average temperatures. Although they can survive and are quite hardy to freezing temperatures, they cannot withstand hot summers and grow well in temperate climates.

Also Read: Best Indoor Plants for Bedroom in India

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Lavender Plant care

If you are wondering How to Care for Lavander Plants? Here are some pointers for the same.

• Provide an ample amount of sunlight to your plants as they love the sun and require a minimum of 3-4 hours of daylight every day.
• Earthing up the soil around the planting bed is a good choice as it will help the plants contain moisture.
• Pruning the plants will bring new blossoms in the plant, but remember not to over prune the tips as that is where the plant flowers.
• Watering Lavenders is a little tricky. So when you’re watering your plants, water thoroughly but let the soil dry between waterings.