Hello Sven,

Please can you give me some advice on how to prune a lavender plant. Do I just dead-head the flowers or should I cut the entire plant back?

Thanks,

Jill

Our Gardens Expert replies:

Hi Jill

The good news is that lavender is really easy to prune - it's simply a case of cutting back the dead flower heads. Lavender is a shrub, and not a perennial, so whatever you do don't cut it down to the ground.

There are two key times for lavender pruning. Firstly in late summer to early autumn, when you cut off all the dead flower heads and trim the shrubs back to neaten up. Then again in the spring when you cut back shoots by an inch or more on the previous year's growth. When doing this make sure that some green growth is left. To encourage an attractive plant shape try and get them into a mound form by simply giving them a light trim when they look a bit unruly.

Lavenders do have a tendency to lose their flowers after about seven years so I usually advise people to replace them when they do.

That's all - it really is as easy as that!

Thanks

Sven