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Anouk lavender pruning


How to prune lavender: and when to, for the best results

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Knowing how to prune lavender will keep these gloriously scented plants in good condition for years to come, and ensure their structure remains neat and dense, too.

Learning how to grow lavender from cuttings and seed is not difficult. However, if not properly pruned, the plants will become woody and unattractive after a couple of years, requiring replacement. 

‘Annual pruning will improve flowering and prevent lavender becoming woody,' says plant expert Sarah Raven , who suggests pruning lavender immediately after flowering has finished. 'Remove shoots to within one inch (2cm) of previous year’s growth,’ she says.

As well as being an essential plant for adding fragrance to the garden, lavender has long been prized for its therapeutic and culinary properties. It’s also one of the best plants for pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and is one of the best fly repellent plants, too.  

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Bear in mind that there is more than one kind of this aromatic herb to enjoy in your garden. English lavenders, such as Hidcote and Munstead, are the most popular, and the hardiest. 

Other European varieties – namely French and Spanish lavender – are less hardy, and so you will need to take extra care when pruning. However, if you stick to a few golden rules, you can apply them to all of your lavender plants.

How to prune lavender – an expert guide

Many gardeners are overly cautious when pruning lavender, as they worry about cutting too far into the stems, which can harm the plant. However, knowing how to prune lavender the right way will prevent this from happening.

‘Don’t be afraid to prune lavender – the plants can become leggy and woody very quickly, and effective pruning will prolong their lives,’ says gardening expert Leigh Clapp.

Follow our simple step-by-step guide, and your plants will flourish for years to come.

What time of year should you prune lavender?

There are two times of year that you should prune lavender: in fall after flowering and in spring. And though you may have heard different opinions about when to prune lavender, and how often to do it, it is best to tackle the plants in two stages: ‘Trim after flowering in fall, then prune in the spring,’ says Clapp. 

Don’t prune lavender too hard after summer ends, or the plant may struggle to survive the onset of colder weather. Instead, think of fall pruning as a way to harvest lavender for drying and scenting your home. Knowing when to harvest lavender really does depend on what you are planning to do with it; some uses require lavender to be cut as the blooms open, others as they begin to fade.

If you forget to prune your lavender during the summer, then it’s best wait until the following spring, especially for less hardy French, Spanish and Italian lavenders.

And when you do prune lavender in spring, only do so after you see new growth begin to appear.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Where do you cut lavender?

When pruning lavender, it's important to cut it in the right place to ensure future healthy growth, and this is a smidge above side branches or leaf nodes. This part of the plant tends to be green. Go any lower and you'll be cutting at the woody part of the plant, which isn't always advised, though some garden experts say you can do this – more on that below. 

'Sometimes you may want to cut into the woody growth simply to tidy up the structure of an older lavender plant,' says Homes & Gardens' Gardens Editor Rachel Crow.

How to prune lavender in its first year

Lavender only requires a light trim in its first year, but to avoid the plants from becoming leggy in future, it’s important to get them off to a good start. Make sure you know when to plant lavender for plant health, too.

Tackle pruning new lavender during the summer, after the plant has flowered.

At this early stage, pruning is about encouraging new growth, and developing a nice mounded shape. If you have grown the lavender from seed or cuttings, then it is beneficial to pinch out new growth tips to help the plant become bushy.

There is no need to follow up with a spring prune when lavender is only in its first year.

  1. Using a clean, sharp pair of secateurs cut each stem back by up to a third, to remove the flowers and some of the green stem growth.
  2. Do not cut the plant back ‘hard’ by going near the woody base of the stem – it is essential to leave plenty of green on the stems when the plants are young.
  3. Try to make an even dome shape by leaving the stems longer in the middle, and gradually going shorter as you move to the outer edges of the plant.
  4. After trimming your lavender, you may get a second flush of flowers. Prune these the same way once finished – but do it well before the cold fall weather sets in.

How to prune mature lavender plants

Lavender plants will establish quickly, so from their second year you will need to follow a simple – but thorough – pruning regime to keep them in shape.

Start by giving your lavender plant a good trim in the summer. Prune plants by about a third into the foliage to maintain their attractive domed habit when in flower. To do this, grab handfuls of the stems and, using clean, sharp secateurs, snip them off.

‘Stems at this level are about drinking straw thickness and regenerate well if there are plenty of small nodules or shoots below the cut,' says master grower Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender . 

'By the time they go dormant in the fall the lavenders should have re-clothed themselves with fresh young shoots that will harden off before the vagaries of the winter weather.' 

Try to maintain a good rounded shape to the plant, but do not cut too close to the woody base of the stems, or the plant might struggle to overwinter.

Follow up with a harder prune in the spring.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Pruning lavender in spring

Spring is the time for pruning your lavender harder to minimize the development of woody stems and encourage fresh new growth. You should do this early in the season, to give the plant plenty of time to reestablish itself.

However, it's vital that you do not cut the stems too far down into the old wood.

‘If you crop the entire plant back to old wood it can mean big trouble,’ says celebrity gardener Monty Don in his book The Complete Gardener .

‘If you cut into the old wood, which does not have any leaves, and new leaves do not grow, then it will not survive.’

How much wood your lavender plant has depends on the plant’s age, and how well it has been pruned in the past.

  1. Take a stem and examine it – you’ll notice it has a woody base set below the leafy section. 
  2. Using a clean, sharp pair of secateurs, cut the stem around 2-3 inches above the woody base, into the leafy section of the stem. Avoid cutting into wood below.
  3. You can prune handfuls of stems at a time, and for hedges you might find it easier to use shears.
  4. Try to create a nice rounded shape to your lavender plant by pruning the outer stems a little shorter than the inner stems.
  5. Where there are dead, frost-damaged or diseased branches, these should be completely removed.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

How to prune lavender that is woody

When lavender is a few years old, it can develop long, ‘woody’ stems that look unsightly. However, if you know how to prune lavender like the experts, then you should be able to rejuvenate the plants.

‘‘The normal advice is to replace plants when they become leggy, usually after three to five years. But I avoid having to do this by cutting right back into the wood,’ says Judith Hann, author of Herbs . ‘I have not lost a lavender plant yet in the 20 years they have been growing in my garden.’

Though usually avoided, cutting lavender into the old wood can be a good way to renovate them. The trick is to make sure you can still see some signs of life in the form of growth nodes below the cutting point. If you cut beyond this, the stems are unlikely to recover, so examine them closely.

Bear in mind you are taking a risk, so before you attempt to hard prune woody lavender, take some semi-ripe cuttings, so if your plant dies, you can grow a new one.

(Image credit: Raquel Lonas / Getty Images)

Should lavender be deadheaded?

There is no need to deadhead lavender; if you prune lavender properly in spring and fall, you shouldn't need to anyway. However if you love a pristine border and want to encourage a few new flowerheads, deadheading won't hurt the plant. 

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

How to prune Spanish and French lavender

Spanish and French lavender are particularly attractive varieties, with distinctive 'butterfly' shaped upright flowers that may be purple, pink or even white.

The plants require full sun in order to thrive, and are not quite as hardy as English lavender. However, they are no more difficult to prune and maintain.

As when pruning other lavender varieties, simply trim around a third of the plant's growth after flowering in summer. However, do not cut the stems back too far, as this will expose them to too much frost over winter.

Follow up with a harder prune in early spring, taking care not to cut into the dead wood.

How do you cut back lavender for winter?

While you only need to prune lavender in the summer and spring, Monty Don suggests a third trim in the fall, to help it ‘hold a tight pebble shape’.

Cutting back lavender before winter will create a tidy mound that will give structure to the garden over the coldest months. Lavender is an evergreen shrub, so it retains foliage year round.

Leaving faded blooms on the plant can also provide food for seed-eating birds, so it’s not always necessary to remove the flowers straight after blooming.

It’s still best to do your first prune before the end of summer, but hardier varieties can respond well to a light fall pruning before the winter. 

Make sure there is plenty of green left on the plant, to keep it looking good over the colder months.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How do you cut lavender so it grows back?

To cut lavender so it grows back, it's important to avoid cutting into the ‘dead’, woody growth. If you harvest lavender just as it is flowering, you might get a second flush of flowers.

What happens if you don't prune lavender?

If you don't prune lavender, the plant will quickly become leggy and woody, and won't be able to hold its own weight very well. 

This means the stems will flop over when heavy with flowers, causing the plant to spread out and exposing more of the old wood in the plant.

As editor of Period Living, Britain's best-selling period homes magazine, Melanie loves the charm of older properties. I live in a rural village just outside the Cotswolds in England, so am lucky to be surrounded by beautiful homes and countryside, where I enjoy exploring. Having worked in the industry for almost two decades, Melanie is interested in all aspects of homes and gardens. Her previous roles include working on Real Homes and Homebuilding & Renovating, and she has also contributed to Gardening Etc. She has an English degree and has also studied interior design. Melanie frequently writes for Homes & Gardens about property restoration and gardening.

How and When to Prune Different Types of Lavender

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How and When to Prune Different Types of Lavender

The soothing smell, gorgeous blooms, and tidy habit of lavender make it one of the most prized plants in most gardens. While lavender is low-maintenance in terms of water and soil needs, it does need a specific approach in pruning, especially once it has become a mature, established plant. We all want to keep lavender in our garden for the long run, so it's important to know how to prune it to ensure a prolific crop of flowers and tidy foliage comes back year after year.

How and when to prune lavender varies depending on the type of lavender you’re growing. Here are tips for pruning the three most common types of lavender. Follow the advice and you're sure to have healthy, beautiful lavender growing in your garden every year. 

How and When to Prune English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

This is the classic English lavender is beloved not only for its memorable fragrance but also for the silvery foliage and stems that add texture to a border. It’s one of the hardier and most commonly grown lavenders with blooms that come on strong in early summer. (And, it makes a great short hedge!)

When and how to prune:

Pictured left: Munstead Lavender, Zones 5 – 9

How and When to Prune English Hybrids (Lavandula x intermedia)

The glam, later flowering lavender (Lavandula x intermedia) has long flowering stems topped by slender tapering flower heads with stems that splay outwards from a rounded mound of foliage. Use them make as the centerpiece of a border or to highlight corners and edges of beds or where you can enjoy the movement with every breeze.

When and how to prune:

Pictured left: Riverina Thomas French Lavender Zones 5 – 9

How and When to Prune Non-English Lavender (French, Spanish, Wooly, etc.)

These ‘tufted lavenders’ have full, thick flower spikes and flower much earlier, in late spring in warmer zones and early summer in colder zones, and often bloom right into fall. Such a diverse collection of lavenders with plenty of variation in fragrance, size, color, texture, and flower heads makes them fun to play with in the garden.

When and how to prune:

Pictured left: Javelin Forte™ Deep Rose Spanish Lavender Zones 7 – 9

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Growing and caring for lavender

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Wed, 19/12/2012 - 14:34 | Comments: 0 | Author: Foxi

If you are interested in caring for lavender, then in general it is simple. By growing this perennial plant, you can enjoy not only its beauty, but also its divine aroma. By the way, now you can find lavender with yellow, white or blue flowers.

Contents:

Varieties and planting of lavender

Before planting lavender, think about choosing the location of the plants in the garden. It should be open and sunny. After all, lavender is a traditional Mediterranean plant and feels good in conditions close to those where it grows in nature.

The most common varieties you can choose from are:

Lavender prefers alkaline and light neutral soils with good drainage. If the soil on the site is clayey, then a little gravel and sand should be added to the hole before planting to improve drainage.

Water is poured into the hole, which should be well absorbed. Then a lavender seedling is placed and covered with earth, which is lightly tamped. When planting, you should pay attention to the fact that there are no recesses around the plant in which water can accumulate.

Lavender Care and Propagation

One of the benefits of growing lavender is that it is considered a drought tolerant plant. She responds well to potassium supplements. The only thing you should definitely avoid is manure and nitrogen fertilizers. Because of them, green mass grows abundantly, but at the same time, lush flowering practically stops.

Lavender, which includes regular pruning, is often used as a hedge. After flowering, be sure to cut off its fragrant shoots. They need to be properly dried, and then used as a moth repellent in the closet. But "haircut" lavender is also needed in order to extend its lifespan. Sometimes the plant dies only because it has not been pruned for a long time.

In late summer or early autumn, it is advisable to cut off the ends of the stems, leaving only a part of them no longer than 10 cm. Lavender can also be cut in early spring, removing those parts of the plant that bloomed last year. With regular pruning, the lavender bush has a decorative appearance for several years, after which it must be replaced with a new one.

Lavender propagation methods

Lavender is propagated by seeds, cuttings, layering and division.

Before sowing, lavender seeds must be removed from dormancy (stratified) for one month at a temperature of 0 to +7 degrees, for which they are placed in a refrigerator in late January - early February.

In early March, the seeds are sown in a box at a depth of 2-3 mm. Seeds germinate well in good light and temperatures from +18 to +21 degrees.

When seedlings grow up, they are planted at a distance of 5 cm from each other. The resulting seedlings are planted in a permanent place in May.

Cuttings are made from annual woody shoots. This procedure is best done in April. Cuttings are cut up to 10 cm in size and placed in soil prepared from sand and peat in equal proportions. Rooted cuttings under the film. For the first five days, they must be sprayed with water several times a day.

Propagation of lavender by cuttings is one of the easiest ways. The procedure is performed in the spring, for which the desired number of shoots are bent from the bush and placed in a previously prepared groove up to 5 cm deep. The shoots are strengthened, covered with earth and watered.

During the summer, make sure that the soil in the places of cuttings is moderately moistened. In the spring, the shoot becomes an independent bush and is cut off from the main one.

In order to propagate lavender by dividing the bush, the plant is cut in autumn to a height of up to 10 cm and carefully spudded with earth. In the spring, pour the earth, filling the space between the stems. During the summer, such a bush gives rooted shoots. In autumn, a lavender bush is dug up, divided and several plants are already planted.

Lavender can be grown in almost any region, it can also be grown at home. True, for this you need to fulfill all the requirements. In summer, a flower pot can be taken out to the balcony, but the plant must be protected from drafts.

Category:Decorative | Lavender

Lavender - home care

Fragrant lavender is not a traditional indoor plant, but many growers successfully grow it indoors.

The genus of culture has more than 40 species, but two types of plants adapt best to home conditions - narrow-leaved and French, but the French type is considered less demanding.

The main problem in indoor lavender care is the lack of light and fresh air, so most plants show poor growth and no flowering.

If in the open field the culture can survive in partial shade and poor watering, then at home lavender requires more careful care, as close as possible to natural growing conditions.

The subtleties of growing lavender in a pot

The culture comes from the Mediterranean, which means it requires an abundance of sun and warmth.

The best exposure in the house is the east and southwest windows, but from autumn to mid-spring it is advisable to move the pot to the south side, since in winter the plant needs additional illumination, which can be used as standard fluorescent lamps.

How to organize additional lighting for orchids

Your green pet must receive at least 6 hours of light. With a lack of lighting, flowering is scarce or absent, and the aroma of flowers and leaves is very weak.

From mid-April, it is recommended to place the pot on a balcony or terrace. However, accustom the flower to the open air gradually, bringing the plant into the house for the night at first.

The culture is very fond of good air circulation, so throughout the year try to ventilate the room, but when opening a window in winter, remove the lavender from the room for a while.

How to get rid of mold in a flower pot

In summer, the plant is not demanding on temperature, and in the winter period of dormancy, provide a fragrant beauty with a lower temperature regime of 15-17 ̊С.

How to water

Lavender care at home consists of proper watering. In warm weather, during the growing season and flowering (from May to September), they are watered with soft water 2-3 times a week as the topsoil dries out, less often in winter - about once every 7-10 days, but only if the room is cool.

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The plant tolerates a lack of water better than its excess, which leads to the development of root rot and yellowing of shoots.

If the pot is located near heating appliances, it is recommended to place a container filled with water and small pebbles nearby.

Transplanting and top dressing

When transplanting lavender, which is carried out in early spring, be sure to lay a high drainage layer of expanded clay or small gravel on the bottom of the pot. The pot itself is better to choose terracotta and 2-3 cm more than the root ball of the bush.

Mediterranean crop is sensitive to soil acidity and composition. Therefore, it is necessary to add a little lime (1-2 tsp) or wood ash, peat and sand to the universal flower soil.

Read more: Potted eustoma

The plant responds well to potash supplements, for example, eggshells, which are crushed and added to the soil when planting lavender, serve as a good natural fertilizer. Nitrogen top dressing stimulates the growth of green mass, but negatively affects flowering.

Liquid complex fertilizer is fed once every two weeks from mid-spring to late summer.

Pruning

Home care for lavender also includes yearly pruning. The procedure helps to rejuvenate the plant and form a beautiful lush bush.

The first small pruning of the tops is carried out after flowering, and before the dormant period in late autumn, the shoots are shortened by one third, and the bush is also thinned out a little, leaving a few green stems.

See also: How to grow peanuts at home

The procedure stimulates the growth of new young shoots. The life span of lavender at home is the same as in the open field - 6 years.

Growing lavender from seeds at home

While some types of crops produce good self-seeding outdoors, growing lavender from seeds indoors is more labor intensive. November is the best time to plant lavender seeds.

Learn more