large flowers and less woody stems – ISPUZZLE

As I write this article, just after the vernal equinox, I look out the window at my garden which is just beginning to wake up from its slumber. One item on my gardening to-do list that I need to complete by the end of the month is pruning my lavender. Even though I pruned this perennial last fall, it will still need to be cleaned up in preparation for another growing season.

Lavender needs annual pruning to continue blooming.

I used to find the size of lavender endlessly intimidating when growing it in my first “cultivated garden”. This may be because the pruning is done while the plant is still growing. Or maybe because, between floating buds and tangled silver leaves, I didn’t know how much to prune my lavender.

Three gardens later, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore. I’ve made my share of mistakes, ranging from pruning to over pruning old wood. I have also killed some lavenders by planting them in too wet soil and stunted others by planting them in too much shade.

Some new spring buds on my baby lavender. It was pruned in the fall.

If you also find lavender pruning confusing, I’m here to cheer you up and give you some tips along the way.

How to Prune Lavender in Spring

As I hinted earlier, pruning lavender in the spring is just a cleanup. In other words, if you made a good size last summer, there won’t be much left to remove. But try not to skip it anyway. A good spring cleaning stimulates growth and prepares the plant for the exuberant blooms of summer.

This lavender was pruned at the end of summer. I took the photo in March.

Remove damaged growth.

I’ve learned that growing French lavender in my decidedly non-Mediterranean climate is a futile exercise in patience. That’s why I slowly switched to growing only English lavender (lavender angustifolia). In theory, this variety of lavender is resistant. Must withstand temperatures down to 5F (-15C).

In fact, some of my lavenders didn’t like the freezing winds this winter. We’ve had at least three frosts this winter, each lasting from a week to 10 days, so some of my lavender that was in a more exposed location took a few puffs.

Some of the new shoots on my lavender have been killed by prolonged frosts.

So when I prune my lavender in the spring, I make sure to first remove those damaged stems and see what’s left. Luckily my lavender isn’t affected much and the plant itself still seems to be growing strongly.

Remove last year’s shoots, if any remain.

I prune most of my lavender at the end of August. But there are still some stray dry buds that escaped my shears last summer, so it’s time to get rid of them.

If this is your first year growing lavender and you missed fall pruning, there’s still time to catch up. If so, your lavender probably looks like a fragrant porcupine right now. You can solve this problem.

Quickly clean my lavender in the spring.

Start by cutting off the dry tops and their stems (the stick that holds the plant upright) down to the first set of leaves. That’s all we do now, so it’s not intimidating at all, is it?

Your goal at this point is to have no more dry buds on your lavender.

Remove enough from the top to keep the lavender compact.

Alright, once the initial cleanup is done, we can make further cuts in the foliage. Our goal is to remove enough to form the lavender into a mound-like structure. So a bit taller and rounded in the middle and slightly tapered towards the edges.

Start by eliminating outliers.

Of course, you can always prune your lavender into other shapes, such as a boxwood hedge. The choice is yours, depending on how this herbaceous perennial fits into your gardening aesthetic.

Look at the oldest growth (darker in color) and cut a few inches back to a branching point. Try to remove as few new shoots as possible. This is the new shoot that will bloom this year.

Tie some of the older growth to a branch point. Be sure to let new growth settle in.

Whatever you do, don’t prune down to the bare woody stems. Unfortunately, lavender will not regenerate from old wood that shows no signs of new germination.

Of course, if you are a gardener, you can combine these three steps into one. But if you’re just learning how to keep your Lavender happy, take it one step at a time.

How to Prune Lavender in Fall

The best time to prune lavender, in most areas of the garden, is in the fall. Or rather, in late summer and early fall, depending on your climate and the earliness of the lavender flowers.

Remove the flowers as soon as they are past their peak.

Lavender flowers are a veritable buffet of pollinators, so I wait for the flowers to dry out and the bees to lose interest before pruning them. At this point, you’ve probably also removed some of the flowers to use in lavender sachets or to soak in iced tea and lemonade.

I remove some of the flowers and stems in the summer to use around the house.

I don’t wait too long though, just for the flowers to lose their lavender color. Waiting too long means the plant will expend energy planting seeds instead of new growth. Pruning early (sometimes mid-August) gives lavender a chance to start new growth when the weather is still nice and mild.

Start by cutting off faded flowers immediately after flowering.

On the other hand, if you delay shedding too much, your lavender may start producing new shoots after pruning when the weather is already getting cold. Of course, this won’t kill the whole plant, but it can kill young shoots. I suspect that’s what happened to my own lavender this winter. Fresh sprouts were too tender to withstand prolonged freezing.

This is what I call deferred pruning.

Remove some of the old growth.

Now that the dried flowers are out of the way, you can assess what’s growing underneath. It’s time to get rid of some of that old ballast. You can prune your lavender pretty hard (definitely harder than you would have done in the spring), as long as you leave some of the new growth behind.

This is the new growth you seek. Do not cut below.

As I mentioned earlier, the trick isn’t to just leave old wood bare and hope it sprouts. It must have new growth for the plant to regrow next spring.

Gather the lavender, a handful at a time, and flatten it to find the babies sprouting from the main bud. Then cut just above the top new growth. You can cut even lower (a few inches above the woody stems) as long as you leave fresh growth. I prefer to cut higher as my growing season is quite short and I want to make sure my lavender has enough height to reach it.

Finish by arranging your lavender as you see fit.

A lavender hedge trimmed in autumn. The new shoots that were still there are beginning to grow.

My lavender has become very woody. What can I do?

Sorry to say, but lavender tends to do this after a few years. I’d even go so far as to say that if your lavender has hit the six-year mark without becoming woody, you might have the greenest thumb you’ve ever had. Pruning will rejuvenate it, but there is a limit to what pruning can do. You may be able to extend the life of your plant a few more years, but eventually you will have to start over with young plants.

This lavender will need to be replaced.

However, the longer lavender pruning is ignored, the faster it will become lean and sparse. Often this is also accompanied by very poor flowering. Do not just cut off faded flowers, but also cut off old shoots in the fall.

The secret to pruning lavender is to prune it sparingly. Don’t cut too low in the woody stems, but don’t lightly prune the top either.

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