John, I would recommend contacting Pelindaba Lavender Farm (https://www.pelindabalavender.com/) as they grow grosso extensively. In my garden, I’ve had the most success in adding homemade compost to build the native soil microorganisms naturally and pruning the plants three times each year.

Have had great luck with lavender cuttings. Trim off lower leaves. Pop the cut-end in my mouth (saliva) then dip in cinnamon. Slip gently into potting mix where I’ve poked a pencil hole. Firm in. I love my baby plants.

Treat them as house plants.

I just read this recently, the lavender plants should be dry, so cut it in early evening, so no dew is on it. Loose bunches, wrap the stems with a rubber band, which will tighten up as the stems shrink. Hang upside down in a darkish area away from moisture (so not in kitchen or bathroom). They dry in a couple weeks, but make sure they are bone dry, or they could mildew. Once you strip off the blossoms you could mix a few drops lavender essential oil in every so often, to keep them smelling good. That’s probably cheating, but the little flowers look so pretty I want the scent to last! ????????????

As for the color, I think it depends on the kind of lavender you are growing. Morningsun Herb Farm (Vacaville, California) gives the rundown per type in their online descriptions. Sorry I don’t recall the specific type, but you could check with them and go from there. They do have mail order, but the shipping can be high (b/c the plants arrive ALIVE!) Maybe you could use all the info on their site to shop closer to where you live. Good Luck, have fun!!!

I’ve never moved a lavender, but worth a try! First, water well, then the next day apply some Vitamin B-1 transplant liquid (available at a nursery or home depot maybe), according to directions on the bottle. The *next* day, trim the plant back by about one third (local lavender growers cut more than that, to stimulate new growth after harvesting the flowers). Cutting it back may sacrifice one flush of flowers, but the plant is more likely to survive if it has less foilage to sustain in the extreme situation of being moved.

Back to the digging up part: After trimming back to about half its original size, use a shovel to dig the rootball a little bigger that the amount of plant you have. Cut the ground about 4″ larger diameter than the trimmed back lavender. Go straight down with the shovel all around the perimeter, then sort of angle/pry the bottom out. You’ll be breaking roots, but don’t panic. The plant basically only needs a root ball about the size of the plant itself. Some people wrap the rootball in burlap, but you could just put it in a big black plastic nursery pot. Once you get it to the new house, it could stay in there while it recovers (in a shady-ish spot), and you can take your time deciding where to plant it. It will grow new roots and put on some top growth and better withstand the entire process. Make sure to mist the potted plant if it’s hot or windy, and water it often enough to keep it perky. When you finally plant it out, mix a bunch of organic compost with the local soil, and plant it so it sits real high. This will give it some room to settle when you water it in, plus if it remains high, it will ensure good drainage because established lavenders like everything on the dry side, and do not tolerate “wet feet”.

Good luck!
Another way to “take it with you” is to root some cuttings from the plant, so at least you have the heritage of your Mother plant. (Root-Tone, works like a champ!) You could do both, so that if your transplanting adventure didn’t work out, at least you have some baby ones.

Shopping List:
B-1 transplant vitamin
Big black nursery pot
Root-Tone
Red SOLO Cups for the cuttings
(all available at Home Depot, except the cups– doesnt really have to be solo cups, any kind will do)

LoL, seriously? The “best” thing???
Also, first thing I thought of was the choking hazard.
Methinks that person doesn’t even have a baby.
Thank goodness.

That sounds a bit random