When to plant lavender in Cairo

Why these dates

Plant out after the last frost. Prune immediately after flowering, taking off about a third but never cutting into leafless old wood, which rarely reshoots.

English lavender takes about -18C in well-drained soil. In heavy or wet ground it dies at temperatures well above that, which is why lavender fails in clay gardens.

Lavender are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Cairo is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Cairo sits in zone 10b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for Cairo →