Keen to up the ante with your lavender? Why not plant it as a standard in a pot? Standard plants, otherwise known as 'balls on sticks', are not hard to train and make great container plants. They are usually expensive to buy, but it's very easy to create your own.
There are two ways to make a standard lavender - a 'single stem' or by plaiting 'three stems' together. A note to the wise - always use the French dentata variety as it grows quickly.
Single stem
Prune your lavender as you would a pine tree in a forest, pick a strong central stem and as the plant grows prune off the bottom side branches. You may need a stake to keep the plant nice and straight. Always leave enough branches at the top of the plant as these are required to give the plant energy for growth and they will ultimately form the mop top.
As the plant gets taller keep removing the bottom branches.
When the plant reaches a height you are happy with (this will depend on the size of pot and could be as low as 40cm in a 14cm pot), pinch out the growing tip at the top of the plant and the growing tips from any side branches of the 'mop top' to be. This will encourage bushier growth. Remove any branches that may be growing up the stem.
Rub off any growth growing up the stem to the height where you want to create the mop top. (Tip: take care not to tear the bark.)
When the mop head of the standard is eventually bushy enough, clip it back to form a ball or allow it to take a natural umbrella-like shape. Clip when flowers have finished.
To maintain the look simply cut off any shoots growing from the trunk or at ground level and clip the mop head as required.
Plaited stem
Follow the same as method as for the single stem above but instead of a single strong central stem, use three strong stems.
As the plant grows and the stems get longer, plait them together and tie off with a rubber band or garden tie. Plait the stems every time you prune the plant up. If you do it while the stems are soft and young they are easy to plait and you won't damage them.