A two year old lavender which retained its leaves etc.,
over the winter is looking very tired, but there is new
growth starting at the bottom... should I prune it
back to where the new growth is, or leave it alone?
Thanks, Rosie

In article ,
(MOLLOYRO) wrote:

A two year old lavender which retained its leaves etc.,
over the winter is looking very tired, but there is new
growth starting at the bottom... should I prune it
back to where the new growth is, or leave it alone?
Thanks, Rosie

Whether this is the best advice or not will depend on if you do it & the
outcome is great. But I vote prune it.
Often sages & lavenders will prove to be evergreen through mild winters,
but seem almost always to need
to be pruned late winter or early spring tot make room for new growth, or
the stuff that looked so nice right
up to March or April FINALLY begins to go to ruination -- so should've
been taken off before that happened
so that the plant wastes no energy on the lost cause of last year's leaves.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article ,
Dave Fouchey wrote:

That has been my experience too Paghat, in fact one of the last things
I do before winter is mow down my lavenders, they then explode out of
the ground in Spring, as mine are doing now. the Bronze Fennel on the
other hand always comes from new growth so I leave it up for winter
interest and cut it down in the spring.

Mow 'em down? I've never heard of such a thing! (I should try this...)
When they grow back, how big do they get?

We just planted Lavender down the walkway to our front door. We hope
they'll grow into nice, fat plants. I had several varieties at my old
home and one type of English Lavender (don't remember the variety) just
stayed beautiful, left untouched. It looked great in the winter, too.
The rest needed help, but I never knew you were supposed to prune them!

On Sat, 03 May 2003 23:25:27 -0400, montana
wrote:

In article ,
Dave Fouchey wrote:

That has been my experience too Paghat, in fact one of the last things
I do before winter is mow down my lavenders, they then explode out of
the ground in Spring, as mine are doing now. the Bronze Fennel on the
other hand always comes from new growth so I leave it up for winter
interest and cut it down in the spring.

Mow 'em down? I've never heard of such a thing! (I should try this...)
When they grow back, how big do they get?

We just planted Lavender down the walkway to our front door. We hope
they'll grow into nice, fat plants. I had several varieties at my old
home and one type of English Lavender (don't remember the variety) just
stayed beautiful, left untouched. It looked great in the winter, too.
The rest needed help, but I never knew you were supposed to prune them!



They come back quite nicely 2 foot tall or better, depending on
variety. When I said mow them down I cut them back to around 3" high,
I don;t scalp them..

Dave.
Dave Fouchey,
Southeastern Lower Michigan
42° 35' 20'' N,
82° 58' 37'' W
GMT Offset: -5
Time Zone: Eastern

In article ,
Dave Fouchey wrote:

When I said mow them down I cut them back to around 3" high

If they survive the winter, I'll "mow" 'em down. I need to better
educate myself!

(paghat) expounded:

Whether this is the best advice or not will depend on if you do it & the
outcome is great. But I vote prune it.
Often sages & lavenders will prove to be evergreen through mild winters,
but seem almost always to need
to be pruned late winter or early spring tot make room for new growth, or
the stuff that looked so nice right
up to March or April FINALLY begins to go to ruination -- so should've
been taken off before that happened
so that the plant wastes no energy on the lost cause of last year's leaves.

It's fine to prune it, but make sure your frosts are over. They're
kinda like butterfly bushes, at least in my area....if you prune them
too early, and they start to grow, a hard frost will knock them back
almost completely, if not kill them.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************