I just pruned my lavender - mistake??!

[Generatenewname]

Help!

I just pruned hidcote lavender…I know it’s too late now but have I really messed up?

There were still flowers on some of it till recently so I left it.

It is a hedge I planted in the spring.

Have I killed it?

I’m in the south east (London) so it’s quite mild

That depends..

If you pruned back to completely old growth, there's little chance of regrowth. If you left some new growth, it should be fine.

Lavender should be pruned, but not so hard you go to the woody bit of the stem

No, it'll probably be okay unless you cut it back really hard, as mentioned.

Cutting back the lavender is one of my favourite autumn jobs, because of the smell, and the lavender definitely looks better for it - otherwise it gets too straggly and woody too soon.

Thanks. I don’t think I went to woody stem. Does woody stem basically mean leafless stem?

Yes, basically. The woody, leafless stem, rather than the softer bits with leaves.

Ok thanks. Hopefully it’ll be ok. Thanks everyone.

It’s not too late. Many of us leave lavender pruning until the goldfinches have well and truly finished with the seeds. I do mine in spring - which has the added bonus that you can see the green shoots, so it’s obvious what “too much” would be

Thanks @MereDintofPandiculation. Maybe I’ll do that next year. Do you just do that one prune then? When In spring? And how does seeing the green shoots help?

I love gardening but I need to learn everything!

Yeah, just the one prune. It can be difficult looking at a woody stem to work out which bit will shoot and which bit is too old to shoot. So if you can see the green shoots, you can prune just above the lowest few shoots.

Gotcha! Thanks. I’ll leave till spring next year. I wish I’d asked here first 🤦🏻‍♀️