I am wanting to start growing lavender and honeysuckle in my garden

Where do you live Amber? My experience with honeysuckle (in Texas) was that it literally took over. So get a larger trellis than you think you will need and plan on pruning it! I currently live in Indiana and have some lavender planted in three separate areas of my yard. The one that gets full sun does the best. It doesn't like to be overwatered. Hope this helps!

Best suggestion I have for getting some very informative and helpful books on gardening is to get a Country Side magazine subscription and then purchase some of their gardening books. They're very good and most of them are very reasonably priced. Ones I use all the time are: "Carrots Love Tomatoes", and "Companion Planting"'. I also purchase a new "Old Farmer's Almanac" each year and plant by the moon to get the best harvests at the least amount of work. At 72+ yrs old, I'm a firm believer in less work and more food! lol

Hi Amber,

I would think twice about growing Honeysuckle, it is major contestant in the world of vining plants and will take over your yard with tough vines that will invade everywhere it can. It is a very high maintenance plant for the owner. If you still really want it, then plant it in a pot to control its spread.

There are different varieties of lavender, a truly beautiful plant, so fragrant and easy to grow. I especially like the one that has what looks like bumble bees. It is a perennial and will come back time after time.

Herbs are easy to grow, we have some thyme and oregano in pots on the deck. Also we got some cinder blocks and put them open end up, filled with dirt and planted herbs, so nice.

Good luck to you.

Lavender works on slopes, needs liitle water, withstands high temps. Not all varieties work in all gardening zones. Cut out old woody growth every 2-3 years. Honeysuckle attracts wasps. If you have visitors with allergies to wasps/yellow jackets, honeysuckle is ill advised. Yes, it grows rampant, with or without a lattice.

If you want honeysuckle go with Lonicera sempervirens, aka Coral Honeysuckle. According to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center it's native to the eastern half of the US and hardy in zones 6 to 9, and evergreen in zones 8 and 9. It is a twiner 15' to 20' so should have a trellis. It grows in full or part sun and prefers moist, well-drained soil. The cultivar 'Magnifica' has flowers with red outside and yellow inside. 'Sulphurea' has yellow flowers, and 'Superba' has bright scarlet flowers.

Lavender requires full sun and well drained sandy or gravelly soils. Wet winters or humid summers can lead to root rot, and it's best to avoid mulch. If you have wet summers it is probably best to plant lavender in large pots to ensure drainage. Soil pH can be between 6 and 8, but alkaline soil is preferred. Lavender is hardy zones 5 to 9, but expect to lose plants in the northern limit. Here is a link to more info: https://www.thespruce.com/growing-lavender-1402779

I love the wonderful scents of the honeysuckle, lilac, et al, also. I also love to see the colorful blooms so I plant only the plants that have extremely long blooming times as well as bringing in hummingbirds. Try some orange and some yellow Hummingbird Vines, they take very little water, lots of sunshine, and mine bloom from mid June until the fall hard frosts. Just be sure to have something strong, solid, and at least 10 feet tall for them to vine up. I live in Idaho where the weather is extremely hot in the summer and well below 0 in the winter, so I plant only things that are listed to grow in zone 4 and will get larger & prettier every year. Go through some nursery catalogs and read the info on the plants you like, then decide what you want to plant and where you're going to plant them before you buy/get any. Mark the spots and work them up (prep them) before you get the plants, this will save you lots of 'headaches' and make it easier and faster to get the plants in the ground once you do get them. Have fun, Good Luck!

DON'T grow honeysuckle!!!! It's invasive and will take over everything!

Not sure about honeysuckle. I bought my lavender plants at a local nursery.