How to protect different varieties from frost

Protection from cold and frost

Overwintering lavender: You should keep the following tips in mind

The best way to overwinter your lavender depends primarily on the variety, but also its location. What should you pay attention to?

Although some plants survive the winter almost entirely on their own outdoors, others require additional protective measures or even have to be brought indoors. With these tips, your lavender will bloom beautifully again in spring.

According to the garden experts at Bayerischer Rundfunk, for example, winter-hardy lavender species are included

However, they tolerate cold temperatures in different ways. Although garden lavender can tolerate temperatures down to minus 25 degrees Celsius, you should protect other varieties from frost, etc. with fleece or other measures – depending on the location and climatic region, which can vary greatly in Germany.

Basic requirements if you lavender If you want to overwinter, reduce the time in summer. Ideally, you cut the plant immediately after flowering. This means that the newly sprouted plant parts have enough time to harden. If you prune them too late, they will die in a frost and will no longer produce new shoots the following year.

The timing of planting lavender is equally important. If possible, this should be done in spring as the plant needs sufficient time to grow in the soil.

After all, fragrant plants like to be protected from the wind, and in winter this can also protect them from frost. Therefore, the location in the bed should be chosen so that it is sunny in summer but can be easily shaded in winter. The winter sun causes the water in the leaves to evaporate. However, the plant cannot absorb it optimally during frost, so the lavender dries out.

If you don’t have such a location, you can overwinter your lavender by protecting it from frost in other ways. For example, cover it with a base made of straw or fleece. But you can also protect the surrounding soil from frost with the following protective measures. This prevents water pooling due to dew which cannot absorb properly when the ground freezes. Therefore, you should only water lavender sparingly in winter, ideally only when the ground is not frozen.