When you prune them, just check that there are buds below where you cut. I used to prune my lavender rather warily. Join now. Healthy lavender plants produce high quality lavender essential oil. The key thing is they don’t like wet roots. There was also some lavender around the beds and that went completely woody and stalky. So wear your glasses! Lavender illustration by M. Jeng. Thanks for this post. I’m wondering whether pruning the flowers now will turn away the bees, interrupt their work….there do seem to be a bit fewer than 2-3 weeks ago, but they’re still there. I was just about to Google it when your newsletter popped into my inbox. To rejuvenate a woody plant, prune in mid-August to just above a green shoot and hope for the best. Here are tips for the three most common ones. The lavender variety is Lavender Hidcote, by the way. ‘no dig’ works just as well for flower borders, The absolutely best way to prune English lavender beautifully | Sublime Windchime. Before you prune your lavender you need to identify which type you have planted in your garden. I think we probably need to cut now to give the plant some growing time before the winter comes, but it’s sad to cut off even a single flower in full bloom. You need to choose the variety that suits your blooming periods. In your own garden, as you are preparing your other plantings for the winter, add "prune the lavender" to your fall gardening checklist. Directly to your inbox. Hi Brenda, we like to do our cuttings during spring time. Photos from the site may be purchased, please contact me for more information. You’ll know when that is as they’ll be more grey than blue, and you won’t see any bees or other pollinators buzzing around them. I haven’t quite dared add the ‘tidy-up in spring’ yet, but I will give it a try. Autumn is the time of the year to take care of your lavenders. New shoots will quickly appear at the base of the bush and these will have enough time to grow and harden up before winter comes. Find the woody base of your lavender plant - that's the spot where soft green growth meets woody stem. But the lavender specialists at Downderry say that English lavender needs hard pruning. Use this same technique every year as new growth starts to appear. To Rosalie Romero- This post will tell you how to prune English lavender beautifully. Some of my lavender bushes have barely lasted four. If you begin by pinching out the tips of the new growth when the plant is very young, it will respond by forming an aesthetically pleasing and easy to follow pruning shape with lots of blooming growth to work with later. Pruning lavender can be very crucial to how it will turn out and whether or not it will eventually thrive like a plant. The technique in this post is for English lavender, not French lavender but the method is similar. Lavender is a lovely sculptural presence for the garden in winter. Trim the lavenders when you have noticed that the flowers are blooming, this typically occurs in the spring or summer season. I did it once in late September and was fine. However, this can be a fun and easy job and should be carried out twice a year — once lightly after flowering and again later to neaten summer's growth. Prune your Lavender plants just as the new growth begins, cutting back as to leave some new shoots at the base of each branch. Lavender grows quickly, so by the second year, the plant should be about twice as big and ready for pruning once the blooms are spent (or cut blooms while they're still fresh and make a luxurious lavender sugar scrub!). At midsummer, it is humming with bees and other pollinating insects. Autumn is the time of the year to take care of your lavenders. Even the RHS cautions against cutting into the woody part of lavender. http://learn-how-to-garden.comThe autumn is a perfect time for pruning your Lavender to keep it healthly and productive. Your plant should be quite a bit larger this year, with more blooms. Lavender is a semi-shrub plant. How to prune established lavender. Pruning time is important, timing is seasonal pruning as well as pruning that depend of how old is your plant. August is the time to give your lavender its summer chop. The best time to prune Lavender is in the spring season. It’s been nearly three years since I originally wrote this post,. I haven’t been able to get out and trim off the flowers and wondered if I did this now (07 November) if it might be too late as the weather is getting colder? How to Prune Lavender Varieties. New shoots will quickly appear at the base of the bush and these will have enough time to grow and harden up before winter comes. Cutting back lavender plants is important for the health of the plant. I’ve picked a selection of products that I use regularly and which I’ve found excellent. You do need to cut just above those tiny shoots at the bottom of the stem because if you cut the lavender down below them, it won’t regenerate. This will keep your plant alive and flowering at its best for as many years as possible. Perfectly timed advice. It looks especially good in the frost. While the plant is in bloom, usually in mid-summer, gather up the flower stalks and once again prune the plant back to 2 - 3 inches above where the soft, green growth begins on … This is our lavender plant after pruning in our field in autumn. Learn How to Prune Lavender like a Pro Many people start to feel nervous about pruning Lavender plants. Why prune lavender? Prune back after flowering, avoiding pruning into old woody growth. The time in which you prune your lavender plants is very crucial and tricky. And repeat. Not good. My mother told me that I would kill lavender if I cut it back too much. 3 top garden privacy tips – how to make your garden look and feel more private! Do not prune the lavender back to the woody base, as the old wood base is not very productive and does not grow many new stems. My concern now though, as one other lady mentioned last year, is that there are still so many flowering stalks and so many bees (Sept 2nd 2017). So, if I was to prune my lavender bush so that it doesn’t overhang the lawn, I’ll be pruning back to the base wood. The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. Because there are different types of lavender out there, each type requires a unique way and timing of pruning. Generally the best time to prune lavender is once the flowers have faded, so now sounds good. The reason for this is lack of or poor pruning. Pruning. I too do this job sitting down, mainly so I can drink in the beautiful smell. I think that as you only planted them this year, I’d suggest leaving the trim until spring. Follow these simple steps to keep your lavender looking great for years to come. Pruning your Lavender will help the plant from retaining its vigor by slowing down its process of becoming woody. If you plan your summer holiday to New Zealand, pick your own (PYO) blueberries is a Must Thing to do with your family a, We need to use lip balm to moisturise our lips. It is not a good idea to plant along side of the house. So I looked for the best English lavender advice. Here you can see one mound of lavender pruned to just under half its height. Never cut lavender back to wood below all of the growth, because lavender will not grow back from old wood. Great. When planting lavender, prune plants lightly, removing all growing tips. Lavender should be pruned each year because a lavender shrub that is left unpruned will become more woody more quickly. Very woody stems close up Pruning has started Continuing the process of cutting overgrown branches back Tiny leaves indicate the stem is alive The stopping point on pruning my 5 year old lavender Key Points To Know When Pruning Woody Lavender. For a great visual guide, watch this YouTube video for how to prune lavender: How Far Apart to Plant. Pruning lavender after flowering is ideal, but if you miss the window, don’t fret. Pruning lavender. I don’t know whether to prune but obviously would rather not because of the important wildlife value (butterflies also visit). I purchased my French lavender plants in October and planted them out They were in two litre pots. When planting lavender, prune plants lightly, removing all growing tips. Prune large lavender bushes back each spring to control their size, but don't remove more than one-third of the height in a single year even if the plant is badly overgrown. However, it does depend on the variety. All year round, check the plant for dead or dying shoots and remove them promptly with a pair of sanitized pruning shears. Pruning lavender after flowering is ideal, but if you miss the window, don’t fret. Rosalie, Hi.when is the best time to take cuttings?.. Below are three common types of lavender planted in UK gardens. A good rule for your "green" thumb is — brown is bad, green is good. I’ll pin this to a Pinterest board as an easy way to remember what to do. You can prune lavender in any season, however, the summer pruning, done at the same time as harvesting is the best pruning time of the year and it should be the harder prune. New blog articles, new products and farm updates. They came…, Fences for privacy – 9 great ideas for garden screening, Are you making the most of your fences for privacy and screening? The secateurs method does take alot longer than clipping it with shears but I briefly went back to shears this morning. Here are three natural ingredients that you should look for in a good l, You want to give the woman in your life a present that will leave her smiling from ear to ear. How to prune lavender. You prune English lavender by cutting it back by two thirds in the second half of August and you can cut into the bare wood, if needed. The question when to prune Lavender depends on what type of pruning is being done. Jun 22, 2020 12:03am. Well drainage is important. I’m looking out at some lavender that’s ready to be trimmed, but is already starting to look a little leggy in the middle. (French lavender has the little ears and needs different pruning). Even the RHS cautions against cutting into the woody part of lavender. Take a bunch of shoots in your hands, then cut back at least two-thirds of the length with a good pair of pruning shears. I haven’t personally grown French lavender so I can’t comment, but I’d suggest clipping it fairly firmly to encourage bushy growth. So I don’t know what is the right course…..I’m in Los Angeles, btw. They’re like tiny grey-blue dots and can  be difficult to see. Is your advice on pruning any different for new plants in their first year? When to Prune Lavender. How to hard prune lavender. I couldn’t work out why next door’s lavender is still healthy and bushy after fourteen years. He cut it right back to the brown, especially in one part that was beginning to look gappy. Every year after that, one third of the long, woody branches are cut back to the trunk. For example, L. stoechus cultivars need pruning in summer, right after the first flowers; this will protect the plant from winter snowfall. A gift that feels persona, Family Activities in New Zealand | Pick Your Own Blueberries, Natural Ingredients to Look for in Your Lip Balms, Purple Presents | Top 5 Amazing Christmas Gifts for Women. (Note: links to Amazon are affiliate, see disclosure.). Just remember to always prune lavender above the leaves. I have started literally pruning out the spent flower stalks and areas around the flowering stalks, time consuming but hopefully the lavender won’t mind this sporadic pruning? If you begin by pinching tips of new growth when the plant and its growth are very young, it will respond vigorously with dense branching that helps form a good shape and a lot of blooming growth to work with later. It can lose vigour and the woody stems can look straggly and unappealing. We find the best time to prune in the Pacific Northwest is late fall just before the first frosts come. It had to be taken out. If you don’t prune lavender regularly, the plants will get woody and will produce fewer flowers. There are different ways to prune both the French and the English lavender, each has its ups and downs, but we will discover both of them. Then, three years ago, I asked Salvatore, the Italian gardener, to cut the lavender in the centre of the garden. Prune 1/3 of the entire plant, reshaping into a nice mound shape. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. You need to cut right down into the brown part, where little lavender shoots can just been seen. That’s a good tip Alexandra. At the farm this is usually early to mid-November. I too was told at some point that it wasn’t possible to cut lavender back down into the woody bit – but as mine looked so straggly, I ignored the advice one year and it grew again! How to Prune Lavender. Lavender can grow out of control unless it is forced into submission! The absolutely best way to prune English lavender beautifully. lavender. Yes and no. The lavender is now nine years old and is still going strong! Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection. Prune the entire plant back by 1/3 in early spring, before the new growth emerges, to tidy the shape of the plant. 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