help with my lavender please!

samuela66

Hi

I have two big wooden conainers with lavender in by my back door, and they are in full bloom, but they are not looking as purple now, do i cut them back now or leave them a while,

many thanks
sam

tanith

Depends on if they are in the way or you are fed up with it.. personally I leave mine for as long as possible as I love the smell . When you do decide to trim them do it with shears just taking off the flower stalks for now... you can cut the plant back further in the Autumn... I sometimes cut and dry the stalks then hang them in the house , the smell lingers for months.

Kay_Peel

Here's a tip for next year.

When lavender starts to grow shoots in Spring, pinch out the top of a third of the shoots. Two weeks later, pinch out another third of shoots. This means that you get more shoots, more blooms and a succession of blooms over a longer a period. It also makes the lavender bushy.

My lavender is just coming into bloom. I can guarantee that it will still be sending up shoots and blooming in October only because I pinched out the tops. if I hadn't pinched out the tops then the flowers would all fade at the same time and need trimming.

Give it a try!

samuela66

tanith wrote: »

Depends on if they are in the way or you are fed up with it.. personally I leave mine for as long as possible as I love the smell . When you do decide to trim them do it with shears just taking off the flower stalks for now... you can cut the plant back further in the Autumn... I sometimes cut and dry the stalks then hang them in the house , the smell lingers for months.

Thankyou tanith,

will the flowers come back it I trim???

sam

TravellingAbuela

Can I hi-jack this thread please with another Lavender question? My pride and joy enormous Lavender bush (in a large tub) was a casualty when DS was left to water all our plants whilst we were on holiday in June. It was packed with flowers when we left but I could have cried on our return! All the flowers dead and the plant itself looked dead too. I cut off all the dead flowers and watered, watered, watered. Now, a month later, fresh growth is appearing on the stalks. Can I expect more flowers this summer or will I have to wait till next year? Another excellent tip there from Kay Peel, thanks for the idea.

dollparts

I moved my lavender because recently and it seems to have stopped growing? The bottom shoots seem to just lie in the floor looking grumpy-I have had to prop up what I can by adding more compost to the base to give it some support.

Weird because the other two plants were moved too and they are fine?

dollparts

Sorry, I am hijacking too.....how do you pinch a plant? I keep hearing it but don't know what it means?

olly300

dollparts wrote: »

Sorry, I am hijacking too.....how do you pinch a plant? I keep hearing it but don't know what it means?

http://www.gardeningdirect.co.uk/pinching-out/GD_DYK_PinchingOut,default,pg.html

Or simply put the words "pinching out" in google and you should get some images too.

olly300

dollparts wrote: »

I moved my lavender because recently and it seems to have stopped growing? The bottom shoots seem to just lie in the floor looking grumpy-I have had to prop up what I can by adding more compost to the base to give it some support.

Weird because the other two plants were moved too and they are fine?

??
Did you move it into a different pot or did you put it in the ground?

dollparts

olly300 wrote: »

??
Did you move it into a different pot or did you put it in the ground?

From a pot into the ground

olly300

dollparts wrote: »

From a pot into the ground

The worse time to move lavender is in the summer better to move it early autumn or failing that spring especially if the plant is big.

One issue you could have if you are using compost is that it's too rich. Lavender likes poor soil.

When I plant mine in the ground I only add sand and grit to it to make it drain freer as I have clay soil. So if you don't live in a clay area add garden soil from somewhere else in the garden.