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If you are planning on growing lavender, you’ll need to find a way of trimming it back. This will ensure the long-term survival of the plant. Plus, it will keep it looking neat.
There are a few tricks you need to know to make sure that it grows back vigorously next year. Keep reading to learn how to prune lavender.
Is Lavender Supposed to be Cut Back?
Let’s start by looking at one of the most important questions. Should you be pruning back the lavender in the first place?
This will often depend on how old the plant is. If you planted it this year, you shouldn’t cut it back. You need to give it time to establish strong roots. You don’t want to add too much stress too early. Because of this, you will need to stick to a light prune. Often, this is just done to shape it.
If it is older than a year, though, you will need to trim it back. If you don’t, it can become overgrown. There is a chance that it can develop a wooden base, which can break apart. This will impact the long-term health of the plant. With this in mind, let’s look at how to prune lavender.
Prune During the Spring
If possible, you want to start pruning at the start of spring. This is the time of the year when the plant will be growing most strongly. The colder weather will kill the blooms if you leave it too late. By removing the dead branches, you will encourage new growth over the spring and summer.
You can also do a light prune during the autumn. This should be a time to get rid of the flowers as they start to wilt. This ensures that the freezing winter temperatures don’t break them off.
Keep Your Tools in Good Condition.
You won’t need a lot of expensive tools to prune your lavender bushes. Often, you’ll need some shears or hedge trimmers. Doing a little preparation can help ensure that the job goes a lot smoother. There are two things you need to do:
- Sharpen the shears or trimmers. This will make cutting through thicker branches easy.
- Disinfect. You can mix bleach and water to form a disinfecting solution. Then, you just need to dip your tools in it to eliminate the prospect of spreading disease to your plants.
Prune Back Middle-Aged Plants Aggressively
As we mentioned, you want to give your lavender plants a light trim in their first year. After this, though, you should start to trim them back more aggressively. It’s not uncommon to remove one-third
of the branch length.
Older Plants Should be Pruned Most Aggressively
While you shouldn’t be afraid of pruning back middle-aged plants, older plants will need to more aggressive pruning routine. This will allow you to shed more of the dead branches. This type of trimming will also wake up any dormant branches, so you should still be seeing good growth.
Start By Removing Dead Branches
When you are pruning, the first thing you need to do is remove the dead branches. This allows the plant to focus its energy on making new growth. It will also allow you to improve airflow in the plant. This protects it from fungal growth. There are a few things that you should do at this stage of the process:
- Deadhead the lavender. This is the removal of any old blooms. In some species, this might be enough to get the plant to rebloom.
- Take a cautious. In most cases, it will be easy to see which stems are dead. But there will be one or two that you aren’t sure about. You should leave them on, and revisit them in the summer. If there aren’t any signs of new growth by then, they are dead and can be safely removed.
- Cut to the base of the stem. It isn’t enough to cut off the bloom. You’ll need to completely remove the dead flowers by cutting them to the base of the stem.
- Repeat. This type of pruning is fairly simple. You will be able to remove dead flowers or branches at any time during the year. Though it’s most common during the spring, allowing you to prepare the plant for strong growth.
Pruning Lavender
Once you have finished removing the dead branches, you will be ready to start pruning correctly. As you are doing this, there are a few tips that you need to keep in mind. There are a few steps to this process:
- Grab a handful of shoots. Be careful not to pull too much as this can tear the shoots out.
- Cut back to just before the growth. If you haven’t pruned the bush back for a while, it can be difficult to see where the growth is. You might need to push some dead branches out of the way to see the new leaves emerging. You want to get rid of the branches in front of these leaves.
- Don’t cut too close. You don’t want to cut to the wood, as there is a chance that the shoots won’t grow back. As a general rule-of-thumb, you want to remove a third of the shoot.
It’s essential to think about when you are doing this. You have until mid-autumn to do this type of pruning. After this time, there is a risk of exposing fragile new growth to the cold winter weather. This can cause it to break off, which can cause serious problems.
Shaping the Plant
The pruning process will allow you to shape your lavender plant. This is a good way of making sure that the plant looks presentable. To achieve these shapes, you’ll need to be selective about how you are pruning the bush. For example, if you want to make a teardrop shape, you’ll need to allow the outer shoots to grow longer.
Taking Cuttings of Lavender
If you are looking for an innovative way to use your lavender, you can try taking cuttings. You can use these to create a new plant. Depending on the time of year, there are a few types of cuttings you can take. If you are in the spring months, you might want to consider taking a softwood cutting. This is the pliable tip of the stem. At other times of the year, though, it’s best to take a piece of the hardwood stem.
Then, you’ll need to plant the lavender out. In this case, you’ll need to put it into a potting mix that prominently features half-peat moss. This ensures that it has the right mix of nutrients to develop strong roots. How long it takes to germinate will depend on the species and the cutting you made.
Softwood cuttings will emerge fastest, taking around three weeks. Hardwood can take a little longer. They might start to emerge after a month. After keeping them in a smaller pot for a week, you should be able to move them into a larger pot. The good news is that they tend to be fairly hardy and easy to germinate.
Take Your Time
When you are pruning lavender, it’s important to remember to take your time. Getting too close to the wood can cause big problems, as it might not grow back.
Final Thoughts
Pruning lavender is important. It strips away dead branches; this frees up more nutrients to focus on new growth. The good news is that pruning lavender is very simple. This tends to be a reasonably hardy species. Plus, you’ll only need to do pruning twice a year. As long as you keep these simple tips in mind, you should have a thriving lavender bush.