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We have 3 lavender bushes in our front yard, they get plenty of sun and we prune the regularly. We also have a rose bush which is doing alright, although I did have to cut some stems from it last year after finding worms on it.

I am worried the Rose bush is affecting the soil, and stunting the growth of our lavender. It is about 1-2 feet away, however the furthest one is growing fine and the nearest one is still tiny.

The rose bush was there when we bought the house 3 years ago, and we planted the lavender either that year or the following year, I can't remember exactly.

What can I do to look into this, and help them all grow healthily.

Here is a picture of the plants for reference.

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2 Answers 2

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It won't be the rose that's affecting its growth - it's far enough away for that not to be a problem, and you would have been digging out roots in orfder to plant the lavender initially if it was, so unless the rose casts a lot of shade on that particular plant, the rose won't be the issue.

Possible causes are your watering method doesn't distribute enough water to that particular plant - the middle one is somewhat smaller than the one on the left hand side, so uneven watering might be a cause. Whilst lavender is fairly drought resistant, preferring free draining, gritty soil, it does need watering during its first year till it settles in and puts out sufficient roots. Otherwise, there might be something under the soil that's preventing healthy growth, perhaps a layer of rock or buried debris causing poor drainage. Did you dig over the area thoroughly prior to planting the lavender?

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  • We did have some trees/weeds in the front garden we used some weed killer on selectively. if anything the lavender nearest the rose is getting the most water. We didn't dig in there too much when we planted them. It was already a garden bed when we planted the lavender, we just dug where the plants already were.
    – JPeck89
    Jun 5, 2019 at 20:30
  • Trees? What weedkiller did you use?
    – Bamboo
    Jun 5, 2019 at 21:38
  • Used some roundup on the weeds. I don't know what they are but they are brown with thin jagged leaves. They get woody as they grow. I live in the midwest.
    – JPeck89
    Jun 16, 2019 at 15:54
  • If you sprayed the weeds before planting, that shouldn't have affected anything. I'd be inclined to lift out the smaller lavender and dig around to see if you can find a cause.... you'd be surprised what gets buried in garden beds....
    – Bamboo
    Jun 16, 2019 at 18:43
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It may be worth a soil pH test. If the soil pH near the rose is acidic close to 6.0 it may not negatively affect the rose(6.0-6.9) but would slow the growth of the lavender(6.7-7.3). I would test the soil of the right most plant and soil nearer the left most plant and compare. Search for a soil pH tester and you can find one easy, or ask around, someone might have one.

Is it possible that the left most lavender is sitting on a pile of nutritious compost making it grow super fast?

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  • The 'nutritious compost' theory is unlikely - that level of nutrition would mean lots of sappy leaf growth and no flowers for a lavender - they do not like rich soil.
    – Bamboo
    Jun 16, 2019 at 18:44

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