The name sea lavender (Limonium sinuatum) conjures up clouds of light purple blooms growing in an airy coastal garden, and rightly so. The Mediterranean native is tolerant of salt spray, alkaline soil, sand and clay, and needs plenty of sun. It grows from 12 to 18 inches tall and can be purple, pink or white. Sea lavender is a cool-season annual in many parts of the country, but adds color and texture to gardens in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 11 for many years. Seedlings can be transplanted from containers to the garden in the spring or fall depending on your location. Sea lavender seedlings are ready to transplant when they have at least two sets of leaves.
Dig a 1-foot-deep hole with a shovel in a sunny area of the garden. Fill it with water. Check back in 30 minutes. If the hole is empty, drainage is adequate for sea lavender. The plant is susceptible to rot and fungal disease in wet soil.
Water the sea lavender plants at least an hour before you plan to transplant them. Sea lavender develops a long, delicate taproot and the plant can die if it is damaged. Watering the plant helps soil cling to the root ball when it is removed from its pot, protecting the plant.
Loosen the soil in your planting bed with a shovel. Incorporate a 2-inch layer of organic compost if you are planning a mixed bed -- sea lavender looks best in the middle of a border to hide its large lower leaves, which can become a bit tatty as the season progresses.
Remove the seedlings from their pots. Turn each pot on its side and gently sliding the seedling out. Hold by the leaves if necessary -- compressing the stem can seriously damage any seedling and pushing on the bottom of a plastic pot can damage sea lavender's taproot.
Dig holes with a hand trowel in your prepared garden bed that are 12 to 18 inches apart and slightly shallower than each plant's root ball.
Set each sea lavender seedling in its hole and firm up the soil around it with your hands. The crown of each plant should be slightly above the soil grade to ensure good drainage for the water-sensitive roots.
Water until the top inch of soil is wet until the plants are established. Allow the soil to dry between waterings. This is a low water-usage, drought-tolerant plant.
Things You Will Need
- Hand trowel
- Marin County Master Gardeners recommend planting sea lavender with native plants that also have full sun and low water needs, like coneflowers or guara, while a low-growing variety of coreopsis fills the bill for covering the plant's unsightly basal foliage.
- Clip stems of sea lavender, also known as statice, and hang them upside down in a dark room with good circulation to dry for use in crafts and dried flower arrangements.
- Do not attempt to transplant or divide established sea lavender from one part of the garden to another, because the taproot is too delicate to survive the process.
- Marin County Master Gardeners: Plant Guide -- Limonium Sinuatum
- Success With Seed: Limonium Sinuatum -- Statice
- University of Florida Extension: Limonium Sinuatum
- Colorado State University Extension: Soil Drainage
- Perennial Resource: Limonium Sinuatum
- University or Minnesota Extension: Starting Seeds Indoors
- ULTRA F/Photodisc/Getty Images