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Gardeners’ Forum: “lavender”

• lavender

  Posted by anna on Friday, April 25, 2008 4:42 pm ADT

  I have a huge lavender in my front garden. Its about 6 years old. I read somewhere that you should cut it back by 1/2 every spring, which I have been doing. It blooms every summer. However, I noticed there seems to be a lot of dead wood under the plant and a lot of the flower spikes are bare from the base to about 1/2 way up where the flower begins. I'm thinking the plant needs to be divided. What's the best way to do this, like any other perennial?

  • re: lavender

    Posted by tammy on Monday, April 28, 2008 10:05 pm ADT

    Can you divide lavender? I always though you should take slips, root them and then replace older none productive plants. That being said I have several lavender that were planted by my father-in-law 20 years ago that I can not even consider parting with. And now they are quite straggly. I do cut out the dead bottom wood and trim the tops. And I just love it them cuz they were Ray's. So if dividing would help, I would love to know about it. Loving my heirlooms. Tammy

  • re: lavender

    Posted by Lara on Monday, May 19, 2008 5:57 pm ADT

    I'm not sure about dividing lavender, but I have read that you can root cuttings. But in my experience, to keep the plant from becoming woody and scraggly, you really need to cut it back in the spring. Just cut it back to where you see new green "leaves" appearing toward the base of the plant in the spring. You'll get lots of lush new growth. I'm not sure about rejuvenating a plant that has already gotten leggy, but perhaps you could try cutting just one part of the plant down close to the base and see what happens...