How to Prune French Lavender for Optimal Growth

How to Prune French Lavender for Optimal Growth

by Alex Kountry
Updated on

Pruning your French lavender plants is an important part of keeping them healthy and ensuring optimal growth. Follow these tips to get the best results.

How to Prune French Lavender for Optimal GrowthCheckout this video:

When to prune

You can prune French lavender any time of year. However, it is best to wait until the plant has flowered. This will give you a chance to see how the plant has grown and where you need to make cuts.

Spring

Lavenders need to be pruned twice a year; once in spring and once in late summer. Spring pruning is essential to remove the previous year’s growth and to encourage new growth.

Pruning in spring should be done as soon as the last frost has passed and before new growth begins. Begin by removing any dead or diseased wood. Then, cut back the previous year’s growth by one-third to one-half. Finally, trim any remaining leaves or stems that are longer than 6 inches.

After spring pruning, lavenders will need to be fertilized with a balanced fertilizer. Follow the fertilizer directions on the package for proper amounts and application frequency.

Fall

French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a beautiful, fragrant, drought-tolerant perennial that blooms profusely from late winter through early spring. It’s often used as an effortless groundcover or as a low hedge. After the flowers fade, the plant can become woody and leggy, so it’s important to prune it back in the fall to encourage new growth.

How to prune

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is a fragrant, drought-tolerant perennial herb that blooms in late spring and summer. It’s a popular landscaping plant in warm climates, and it’s often used in herbal medicine and as a culinary herb. French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a common variety of lavender that’s known for its showy, colorful flowers.

Cut back dead wood

Cut back any dead wood to the point of healthy, green growth using pruning shears. If you want to encourage more compact growth, make your cuts just above a set of leaves. If you prefer a more leggy look, cut back to just above where two stems meet.

Remove spent flower heads

French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a wonderful evergreen shrub to have in your garden. It’s also one of the easiest shrubs to prune. You should prune your French lavender at least once a year, and more often if it gets leggy or bedraggled.

Here’s how to prune French lavender:

1. Remove spent flower heads. This will encourage the plant to produce more flowers.
2. Cut back any leggy or scraggly growth.
3. Prune any dead or damaged branches back to healthy growth.
4. Shape the plant as desired.

And that’s all there is to it! With just a little bit of care, your French lavender will thrive and produce an abundance of beautiful flowers.

Thin out overcrowded areas

French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a beautiful, fragrant, flowering shrub that’s perfect for use in the landscape. Its small size and tidy habit make it an ideal choice for rock gardens, edging, borders, and foundation plantings. It’s also lovely when planted in mass as a low hedge or groundcover.

Pruning is an important part of maintaining a healthy french lavender plant. Pruning not only keeps the plant looking its best, but it also helps to promote new growth and encourages more blooms.

Here’s how to prune your french lavender:

-Start by thinning out overcrowded areas. This will help to improve air circulation and prevent disease. Remove any dead or dying stems as well.

-Next, cut back any long or straggly stems by about one-third their length. This will encourage new growth and help to keep the plant tidy.

-Finally, cut back spent flower stems to the point where they branch off from the main stem. This will encourage the plant to produce more flowers.

Tips for optimal growth

When it comes to French lavender, pruning is a important step to take in order to ensure optimal growth. French lavender is a fast-growing plant, and if left unpruned, can become leggy and produce fewer flowers. Pruning also encourages new growth, which can result in more flowers.

Fertilize regularly

To keep your French lavender plant healthy, it’s important to fertilize it regularly. A slow-release fertilizer that is rich in phosphorus is ideal. You should fertilize your plant every two to three months, or according to the package directions. If you notice that the leaves are turning yellow or the plant is not growing as vigorously as it should be, fertilize more frequently.

In addition to regular fertilization, you should also trim your French lavender plant regularly. Trimming helps encourage new growth and keeps the plant looking its best. You can trim French lavender plants anytime they start to look a bit shaggy or overgrown. Simply use sharp shears to remove any unwanted growth.

water deeply

Water French lavender deeply once a week during the spring and summer months to encourage deep root growth. Allow the soil to dry out slightly between watering sessions. Reduce watering to once every two weeks during the fall, andstop watering altogether during the winter months.

provide good drainage

Good drainage is essential for lavender because the roots are very sensitive to wet conditions. A plant that is waterlogged will quickly succumb to root rot. When you’re planting lavender, be sure to choose a site that has good drainage. If you’re not sure, do a percolation test by digging a hole 1 foot deep and filling it with water. Let it drain, then fill it again and time how long it takes to drain. If it takes longer than 30 minutes, the drainage is poor and you should look for another site.

Lavender will grow in most types of soil as long as it drains well, but it prefers a sandy loam. If your soil is heavy clay or poorly draining, you can improve it by adding organic matter such as compost or peat moss. You can also raise the level of the planting bed by mounding the soil up or creating a bermed area around the planting hole.

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About the author

Alex Kountry

Alex Kountry is the founder of HayFarmGuy and has been a backyard farmer for over 10 years. Since then he has decided to write helpful articles that will help you become a better backyard farmer and know what to do. He also loves to play tennis and read books

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