This post is a bit late for getting in a February trim, but since the weather hasn’t been great this year we think your Lavender deserves a bit of a rest first (phew, I got away with that one!).
Our school of thought on Lavender clipping is to do it twice a year:
- A light trim in late February / early March – right about now at the time of posting.
- A hard trim after flowering, sometime in August.
The first trim needs to be done by early March. This is the trim that tidies up your plants for summer and encourages lots of flowers.
Lavender that was planted last year must not be spared!
It is often fine, even preferable to let a shrub settle in for its first year with little or no trimming. With Lavender, it is essential to trim it young so that it makes lots of leaf buds close to the centre of the plant, which forms a strong base for the future.
The second trim should n0t be left too late. The new growth needs time to harden up before the weather gets cold.
If the weather turns frosty early, it won’t hurt to cover up your plants for the first few frosts to give them a bit more time.
Be ruthless with this August trimming! If Ruth wants to join in, ask her politely to sit this one out.
Trim every stem so that about 2cms (at most) of new growth from the previous year is left. Your plants will look pretty sad when you are finished. They will grow back a bit before the end of autumn and look beautifully neat for winter.
I live in Lincoln Nebraska. When should I trim my lavender. They are 1-2 years old.
Greetings Judith,
Trim them lightly at the end of winter, whenever that is for you, and then prune them after they finish flowering, so that they have time to put on a little new growth before winter. That’s what works well here, your mileage may well vary.
In your case, if they haven’t been pruned ever, then I would prune them, rather than trim them, this spring, to make them as bushy as possible in the long run.