Now’s the time to trim that lovely lavender
Q: In my drought-tolerant garden, I planted some English lavender. It was beautiful, but now it is covered with dead flowers. Should it be pruned now?
A: Yes, and lavender can be either sheared or trimmed back with hand pruners for two different effects. Shearing consists of using long-blade hedge shears to cut all the stems to the same length after the bloom fades. You can remove one-third to half of the leafy part of the plant this way every year. Lavender is often sheared into geometric shapes such as circular mounds. It’s a fast pruning method that creates a rather formal look.
Because I don’t like the chopped appearance of sheared lavender, which will remain until the new growth covers the cut tips, I prefer using hand pruners to cut back each individual flower stem. Plants given this gentler, more informal shaping will look good all year. Make your cuts at the bottom of each bare flower stem, down into the leaves a bit, so no little stems stick up when you’re done. If the branch is so long that it makes the plant’s shape awkward, cut as much as halfway down into the leafy part. If the entire plant is bigger than you would like, you can make it smaller using these deeper cuts all over.
Next year, you may want to cut some of your lavender flowers to add to bouquets or dry some flowers for sachets. Cutting some flowers to use in summer will reduce the number of stems you have to cut back later. For sachets, strip the flowers just as they show color and dry them in a shady place. Craft stores sell little gauzy bags with colorful ribbons for easy sachet making.
A last word: Lavender is a short-lived perennial, meaning that it will usually die and need replacing after a few years, even with good care.