I'm in the process of cutting back a very mature and woody lavender. It was not pruned last year, and possibly not the year before that. It is about one metre and a half wide... I need it to be more compact. How much can I take off the sides without killing it? Will it regain green growth on those parts in the summer? Thanks!- K, Victoria, BC ..I hope this is in the right forum. I did some research online about this.. but it was not really adressed in the case of mature plants.
Hi, Greetings from the south of Portugal (blue sky 21'C). I think that you can be pretty brutal with lavenders. For example i have a woody Lavandula dentata perhaps 1m (~3 feet) across and high. Last Autumn I cut it back to about 15cm (6 inches). It has recovered very well with masses of new grey green leaves and is now back over a 30cm (1foot) across. However not 100% of the branches survived the cutback and this would be my general experience with all lavenders - some branches will die off. With such a brutal cutback, I am not expecting too many flowers this year. Many lavenders are native here and they occur in areas prone to fire where they may be burnt down to ground level - they obviously thrive in this regime. Boa sorte (good luck) BJO
Personally when I give any of my Lavender angustifolia a hard pruning I wait until I start seeing new growth and cut as low as I can just above that new growth. I do this every other year. Vera
Best to not cut back to woody growth, only cut back the green by half. Maybe take cuttings and start a few new plants and remember to prune them twice a season if you are desiring that nice mounded cushion effect. See http://everything-lavender.com for tips on taking care of lavender.
Update on my Lavandula dentata, cut back brutally to 15cm (6") last autumn (message 2 above). It has now regrown to more than 90cm (3') across and high and is flowering - not profusely, but better than I had hoped. So it is certainly an example that a lavender can recover well from very hard pruning. Simon Charlesworth is considered an expert on lavender cultivation in Europe ( his Downderry nursery is on the web). He recommends cutting no lower than a hand's breadth above the lowest green branches. This will stimulate new branches lower down on the woody stem. Then if you want it cut back even further, you can do a second cut again a hand's breadth above the lowest of the new green branches. This method should eliminate any risk of total die-off. Boa sorte BJO
my first year lavender plants are just finishing blooming. My Felco#2 pruners are being shipped as I write this email. When the pruners arrive, I'm taking hold of the lavender flower stems, holding them like ponytail and--'snip' its gone. I'm trimming back to about 1 1/2 inches above the woody parts. I'm going to be brave. Give it a try,
My fist wife us to cut my hair this way in the late sixties when I had more hair to deal with. I am not sure if it help my hair or not but it sounds like an efficient way to prune lavender.
well, the pruning is done and already the lavender plants are already showing new shoots. Here is a video link I found to be helpful for caring for lavender: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5pJs99MV28
