I moved this lavender from a pot into the ground earlier this year and it seemed to do well initially but it hasn’t grown since and looks very dull.. i think it may well be dead.
We’ve had a very warm and dry spring and summer this year and I was watering it (the entire flower bed) more frequently a couple months ago when it hit 30s, but I haven’t since so surely it isn’t root rot?
Very new to gardening – this lavender was the first plant I bought for the garden a couple of years ago as I so want a big healthy lavender!
by Grand_Act8840
12 Comments
Mine often looks like this! I cut out the dead-looking bits and the rest is fine. It’s a pretty hardy plant.
My flowers always look like this after going to seed, if you cut the flowers and hold them upside down and shake you may get some seeds out.
Cut it back if you’re worried, but lavender is pretty hardy, I don’t do anything to mine other than water it during really hot weather and it thrives, I’m pretty sure it’d survive an apocalypse
It’s fine – just finished flowering. Lavenders are pretty robust!
Give it a haircut by taking off all the dead flowers and some of the newer green leaves but don’t cut back into the older (brown) bits as it won’t grow back from that.
The flowers are dead, the rest is alive. It’s normal for the flowers to die. It looks like a completely normal lavender plant. Rule of thumb is to cut lavender back 8 inches on the 8th day of the 8th month.
https://preview.redd.it/zv7d93qnicif1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93b70c6cbd3ca0bc738138647c4d4595f5df3fa4
This is my 5 year old lavender border – I’ve kept it compact by trimming it every year after flowering.
The lush green leaves are evidence that the plant is alive and well. Flowers don’t last forever – their entire purpose is to be pollinated and set seed, as they are the plant’s reproductive system. Your lavender has finished flowering for the season, that’s all.
The usual advice is to cut lavender back when it has finished flowering. It is safest to cut just above the lowest green leaf, as lavender doesn’t like being cut back into old wood. It is a plant that tends to get quite woody at the base as it grows (that is why the lowest leaves have gone brown, that’s the old wood, last year’s growth), so cutting it back hard after flowering is the best way to keep it in good shape. It will then grow back stongly in spring and flower again next summer.
Those dead flowers are normal, it has just finished flowering. Now is the time to prune it back, not into the woody bits as it usually won’t regenerate from there. Pruning keeps it from getting straggly. I bow to the other commenter’s superior knowledge as I’m not sure about the pictures of the main plant. My lavender is old and tougher – I’ve forgotten what it was like to have new plants. It’s certainly true that lavender doesn’t like wet feet, or too wet a climate. As long as it’s getting plenty of sun, it will be a bit more tolerant of watering. I suppose I would try to avoid watering it as I’m watering the rest of the bed, unless there has been no rain for a long time. In that case, I would water it well once, and then leave it dry again.
Just seeded
Every flower has its season, and then when finished, will die down for the year. They aren’t permanent structures. We like them and breed the plants for them, but essentially they only exist so the plant can have sex!
Some garden plants will die down completely except for the root structure – these are perennials, and you can either leave the dead foliage overwinter to give shape to the garden (and then cut back in spring to give room for new buds) or you can give it a good chop once everything above ground is dead. This choice may also depend on how cold the winter is projected to be, and how hardy the plant’s roots are – having cover above the ground can give the plant some insulation against freezing temperatures.
Other plants will die completely and need to be replaced next year – annuals.
Still others are effectively very small trees, and can be classified in much the same way as either evergreens (the leaves stay green all year and keep on working) or as deciduous (they save energy through the winter by dropping their leaves and effectively going into hibernation).
In the case of lavender, it’s an evergreen bush that evolved for dry, hot climates. The different varieties will vary in their timing, but flowers generally start between May-July and finish between July-September. (This year has been so hot from early on, that most people’s lavender started early and is finishing early.)
When the flowers are done for the year, you tidy the bush by trimming the dead flowers down to just above the greenery. (If it’s a warm autumn, don’t be surprised if the plant grows a few new flowers.)
In other words: no, your lavender is not dead. The leaves look very healthy. It’s just that your flowers have finished for this year.
Two cuts, a light one just below flowering stems now, then when frost gone a deeper cut (but not below brown) in spring. This helps to keep it green lower down, but lavender has a shelf life. If it gets very woody ive dug them up and re planted very deep right down up iver the brown bits and its re rooted from the old branches. Or else buy a new one 🤪
Thank you everybody! I will cut it back as you’ve all said 🌟. I thought it would flower for longer which is also why i thought it’d died but I guess as one of you said, as it’s been so hot it flowered early and has finished early!
✂️
You can revive it no problem. Deadhead and remove all the crispy brown bits. Give it a good water and then keep on top of watering regularly. I’ve revived many lavender plants successfully!