Lavender is a bold and pungent plant to have in the garden, and spring is the beginning of its flowering season. However, if you didn’t give the lavender all the TLC it needed last year, you could be left with a leggy and unruly plant.
However, it’s not too late to rectify the situation. Gardening expert and TikTok creator Michael Griffiths encouraged fellow gardeners to do a small but very important task now, before the plant grows out of control. Michael said, “If you missed pruning your lavender in late summer or it’s looking untidy or frost-damaged, now, in mid to late spring, when this new growth appears, is the perfect time to prune.”
Ideally, you should prune your lavender in late summer, preferably in August or September. However, if you missed that window, March is your last chance to get the plant under control before the flowers come in.
Michael explained that early signs of fresh growth on lavender are the perfect time to spruce things up a little bit. An early spring prune will help prevent the plant from becoming leggy and woody.
A trim will help keep the plant neat and aesthetically pleasing, and will encourage the fresh growth to thrive. Not pruning correctly or at the right time can leave the lavender leggy and woody.
Michael said: “You can prune lavender as hard as you like as long as you’re not cutting into old wood, and you leave some new growth beneath the cutting point.”
When pruning lavender in spring, you want to identify the difference between old and new wood. The old wood will be brown, displaying “almost white foliage”, while the new growth will be a bright green.
Avoid trimming at the base, and instead trim just above the old wood. He advised cutting the lavender back by about a third.
The gardening expert explained: “If you do cut down into old wood, that area may not regrow, and you could lose the plant, so if in doubt, stay above that new growth.
Michael explained that a spring prune could delay the flowering of the lavender, but gardeners will be rewarded with a “stronger, better-shaped plant that lasts for years.”
When it comes to planting lavender correctly, make sure it’s placed in an area with plenty of sun and use free-draining soil.
Gardeners’ World warned: “Lavender can become very leggy, bearing few flowers. The reason for this is lack of, or poor, pruning. Many gardeners just deadhead hardy types, which also leads to leggy plants and not many flowers. Looked after in this way, the plant will be very short-lived.”
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