When it comes to knowing how to prune Lavender plants, the best advice is to start pruning as soon as you plant it. It is this formative pruning that will set up your new Lavender plants as a long lived and free flowering plant.
If left to its own devices, it will turn into a woody shrub, and this is what you need to avoid.
Once the plant develops lots of woody growth it becomes difficult to prune back into shape. This is simply because the wood easily splits when pruned and then tends to die back.
Lavender is a shrub that does not like to shoot from old wood.
These are a a tough drought tolerant small shrub that grow well in a sunny position in a well drained soil. The green grey foliage fools gardeners into thinking that is a perennial, however it is a woody shrub that requires taming to give its best.
Basic Pruning Advice.
On planting, start by pruning, or ‘pinching back’ the tips of each stem. This will help promote a bushy growth habit and therefore more stems and more flowers.
After flowering, look ate the stems and prune back as far as you can without going into the old wood. Always leave some good green growth on each stem. You can look for growth nodes on these stems and try to leave 3 or 4.
After you prune you will often find that new growth nodes will spring into life form lower down the stem.
In good conditions these are a fast growing plant and can be pruned back by at least 1/3 each year. In many cases by more.
How to Prune Lavender Varieties.
Ideal techniques and timing will differ between varieties, however the general rules still apply.
- Prune back after flowering, avoiding pruning into old woody growth.
- Prune regularly.
- Pinch back newly planted Lavender plants.