How To Plant Lavender In Pots: A Complete Planting Guide
Did you know that this attractive ornamental evergreen shrub, a favorite of many due to its scent and beautiful flowers, does well in containers? It thrives as long as the soil mix and other conditions are to its liking. Learn how to plant lavender in pots with these essential tips to ensure your potted lavender is happy and healthy.
Lavender, the quintessential Mediterranean plant, is not only fragrant and appealing to the olfactory sense, but it also has culinary uses. Plus, it looks good in the garden, patio, or balcony!
This post is focused on planting lavender in pots to grow outside. If you want to bring yours indoors for the winter, I touch briefly on that towards the end of this post.
Note: This post was published on 6/20/2020. It was updated on 5/31/2024.
Lavender Overview
So many different species, hybrids, and lavender varieties are offered on the market. They grow in USDA zones 5 – 10. You can find your growing zone here.
You can buy types of English, Spanish, and French lavender with their familiar purple fragrant blooms, as well as some with white or pink. Most flower from early spring to late summer, depending on your zone. The soil mix, method of planting, and aftercare outlined here apply to all of them.
In my professional gardening days (long before I was a content creator), I planted and maintained a lot of lavender plants in the San Francisco Bay Area. On a personal note, my mother lived in Sonoma (a wonderful climate for growing lavender), and I put quite a few in her garden, both in pots and raised beds. Lavender and I go way back!
I now live in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, so I thought I’d give a lavender plant a go. This perennial herb isn’t crazy about cool coastal climates or hot inland deserts (although lavender loves heat, the desert sun and heat can be too extreme), but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. If it heads to the great compost pile in the sky, it won’t be from improper planting!
Do you have questions about growing lavender? Check out our Lavender Q & A. Hopefully, we answer them for you here!
How to Plant Lavender in Pots
When to Plant Lavender
The best time to plant is during the growing season. In most climates, planting in early spring through summer is fine. Here in Tucson (or any extremely hot location), early fall would have been better because the plant could have settled in when the temperatures cooled a bit but before the first freeze night.
I planted it in late spring to complete this post and video for you. The plant settled in fine, but once the temperatures reached over 100 degrees F, I had to water it every few days.
Plant Choice / Pot Choice
Lavenders range in size from 18″ to 36″. The larger your lavender grows, the larger the pot will need to be. The mature size of some lavenders is 3′ x 3′, so they need a sizeable base to accommodate the roots and the size of the plant and enable the best blooming.
I chose Lavender ‘Munstead”, one of the compact English varieties. It’s suited for small spaces. It gets 18 x 18″, so the 12″ pot that I planted is fine. A 14 to 16″ pot would have worked too.
The larger lavenders will appreciate pots 20 – 24″ in diameter. Whatever pot you use must have at least one or more drainage holes to make sure the excess water drains out, as this plant doesn’t like to sit in wet soil.
As for material, I’ve seen lavender planted in ceramic, metal, plastic, and terracotta pots.
Tip: I did this in my gardening days when the perennial or shrub I planted was small and looked way out of scale with a large pot. I planted annuals in and around because they grow fast and take up quite a bit of space. As the plant grew, I’d scale back or eliminate the annuals.
Do you have questions about growing healthy lavender plants? Check out our Lavender Q & A. Hopefully, we answer them for you here!
Best Soil For Lavender In Pots
All lavender, big or small, needs a well-drained soil mix with a bit of grit. They do best growing in dry conditions. Although they aren’t fussy about the soil, it needs to be on the alkaline side, moderately fertile, and well-aerated.
Lavender is susceptible to root rot, and a drainage mix helps prevent it. Wet soil causes wet roots, which in turn leads to fungal diseases like root rot.
You know I love to topdress container plants with compost and worm compost to nourish them and conserve moisture naturally. Lavender doesn’t like to be smothered in mulch or compost, so skip the heavy dose of topdressing, especially if you’re in a more humid climate or grow it indoors.
This is the mix I used with approximate measurements:
- 3 parts potting soil (this, along with a bit of compost, add richness)
- 1 part clay pebbles (these aerate and up the ante on the drainage)
- 1 part pumice (ditto on the above)
- When planting, I threw in a handful or two of organic material (compost) and topdressed it with 1/4″ of worm compost. I’m in the desert, so you can adjust this blend to suit your climate.
Alternate mixes with less components:
- 1 part potting soil / 1 part horticultural sand
- 1 part potting soil / 1 part pumice or perlite
- 1 part potting soil / 1 part fine rock
Steps to Planting Lavender in Pots
The lavender was watered the day before planting. A dry plant is stressed so, I always water 1- 3 days before planting or repotting.
I mixed up the soil components in a pail to make sure they were well blended.
I turned the plant on its side and pressed on the grow pot to loosen the root ball from the pot.
Gently massage the root ball to loosen the fine roots. This makes it easier for the roots to spread out and grow in the new mix.
Some potting mix was added to the pot, so the top of the root ball was about 1/2″ or so below the top of the pot. You want to leave a little room at the top so when you water it easily absorbs in and doesn’t spill out of the pot along with any of the mix.
The plant was put in, and the mix was added around the root ball. I tossed in a couple of handfuls of compost at this point. If you’re in a cool or very humid climate, it’s best to avoid the compost. It can hold soil moisture and potentially cause root rot.
I pressed down on the top of the soil to straighten the plant in the light mix. A light sprinkling of worm compost was applied to the top.
How To Care For Lavender After Planting
I moved my lavender to a spot under the pink grapefruit tree where it gets filtered sun. Remember, I’m in Tucson so this works rather than the full sun it likes and needs in other locations. It also gets good air circulation in this location which is a big plus.
I watered it thoroughly right away. Lavender needs more water when settling in (especially in a dry and hot climate) so don’t let it completely dry out. After it’s established, it’s more drought tolerant so keep it on the dry side.
Now that you’re ready to plant, these Lavender Care and Growing Tips will guide you every step of the way.
Indoors
Here are two things I think you should know. When planting lavender in pots and bringing it indoors, smaller plants and smaller pots are easier to handle. There are quite a few lavenders that stay 2′ or under.
You also want to make sure the soil has excellent drainage (you might want to add a bit of extra pebble, sand, pumice, or perlite to the mix) so it doesn’t stay too wet when overwintering the plant in your home.
How To Plant Lavender in Pots Video Guide
Lavender in Pots FAQs
There are many types of lavender and many species, hybrids, and varieties on the market now. Find the ones that are best suited for your growing zone. The dwarf varieties like Munstead and Hidcote are well suited because they fit into smaller spaces and can be planted in smaller pots. The larger lavenders do well in pots, but they will need larger ones to accommodate the scale of the plant and the root ball.
Lavender loves a sunny spot! It likes direct sunlight for at least six hours. If it does not get the sunlight it needs, its growth will become leggy, and the plant will have few or no blooms.
Lavender is often grown commercially on hillsides. This way, if the soil is heavy, water can run off. That is why using a well-drained soil mix is important when planting in pots.
How often you water depends on the conditions, pot size, soil mix, and time of year. Avoid watering too frequently, as this can lead to a fungal infection, like root rot. The best approach is to let the soil dry between waterings.
New plants will need watering more often. In the cooler months, water lavender less often.
If you don’t know, companion plants have the same growing requirements. Suitable lavender companions include rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, salvia, lantana, rudbeckia, echinacea, African daisies, yarrow, nepeta, verbena, marigold, and geraniums. What you plant depends on the type of lavender, how big it ultimately gets, and the size of the container.
Its distinctive scent and stunning flowers make this attractive ornamental plant a great addition to any garden, patio, or balcony. With the right soil mix, proper pot size, and suitable growing conditions, lavender can flourish beautifully in pots. Learn how to plant lavender in pots with these essential tips, ensuring your potted lavender not only survives but does its best.
We love lavender because its fragrant flowers are used in potpourri, sachets, tea, arrangements, and cooking. The silvery/green foliage contrasts nicely with all the other greens in the garden. You’ll be happy on a warm summer evening when breezes cause the scent of those lavender flowers to waft by!
Happy gardening,
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Nell, the founder of Joy Us garden, was born into a gardening family and grew up in Connecticut’s countryside. After living in Boston, New York, San Francisco, & Santa Barbara, she now calls the Arizona desert home. She studied horticulture & garden design, working in the field all her life. Nell is a gardener, designer, blogger, Youtube creator, & author. She’s been gardening for a very long time & wants to share what she’s learned with you.
Does lavender grow well in Oklahoma and does it do good in sun or shade.
Hi Cheryl – I’m not sure what zone you’re in so I can’t say. As to sun or shade: lavender is thought of as a sun-loving plant, but where I live in the AZ desert, the sun is too strong & it doesn’t like this much heat. Nell
Hi- I LOVE your site and frequent it often having moved to the Phoenix valley a couple years ago from the Midwest and appreciating your desert comments. I am wondering about an update on the lavender- is it still alive? We have temps up to 10 degrees warmer than Tucson and this summer has been crazy hot with many plants dying that have never been problems before but in a normal summer, would lavender become a perennial in AZ?
Hello! I am in Tucson too and am SO HAPPY to find your page! I am having a difficult time growing anything- of course I picked the middle of summer to grow things. I think I am overwatering, I have killed several lavender plants already. How often should I be watering my lavender these days?
Jami – Hi neighbor! Lavender likes sun & heat, but our intensity of both makes it difficult to grow here. Spanish & French tolerate more heat so give those a try. Shade from the hot afternoon sun is important in the summer months. How often you water depends on pot size, the location, & soil mix. It needs a fair amount of water to get going & then you can back off. Nell
Ruthanne – To be honest, mine is struggling in this heat. Ever since May, the temps have been crazy. It’s technically a perennial here but with more summers like this, that may not be the case. Nell
I absolutely love the large iridescent looking container in the first picture. Any chance you can tell me where you found it? Thank you!!!
Hi Taylor – It’s lovely! That photo was taken at a resort in Santa Barbara. I don’t know where the pot was purchased. Nell