Trimming your bush

[ThomBat]

Errr this is is the Gardening topic, what did you think it might be about??!!

So - I want to cut back my lavender bushes but not quite sure how to do it. Do I just hack at all the spikey bits, where do I cut them back from, of do I not have to bother with lavender?

Anyone?

Are they newly planted or are they well established bushes? If they're newly planted you should cut them right back to encourage lots of new growth next year.

If they're well established then they should be pruned every year to keep them from becomng overgrown. Remove all of the old flower stalks and about an inch of this year's growth (which will be the green stuff rather than the woody stuff). Make sure that there's still some green growth left on the plant, rather than just old wood.

Thank you muchly

Yes don't cut them down to old wood or else they will die horribly.
You have to replace lavender every few years anyway as it goes woody, unless you don't mind it leggy.

I was advised by a lavender nursery, to cut it back so that one inch of green growth remains, that's kind of the opposite of WWB's advice i'm afraid.

My advice comes from a book by the Royal Horticultural Society ... its advice on pruning has never let me down yet! I've been pruning my lavender that way for 10 years and it works for me.

I guess how much you remove depends on how much growth you have - and as long as there is still some fresh green growth on the bush it will be fine. Otherwise you can prune it as much as you like, depending on how small and compact you want to keep it.

Are you sure they didn't say one inch of the new growth (ie. this years) growth foxtrot IME cutting back to one inch of the plant will kill them