Lavender Uses
Lavenders – their uses and pruning of
Lavenders are one of the more popular plants used in gardens for many reasons but namely they attract many bees to the garden, they have very fragrant flowers and are a great addition of colour.
Left to their own devices, without regular pruning, the gardener will get a very woody plant quickly with little or no form to the plant – here you will learn how to prune and get more out of your lavender plants
There are many varieties of lavender and its really down to personal taste to which one you like – a well stocked garden centre will have them in stock – namely English and French Lavender
Lavenders can be planted as a single plant, in groups of 3’s or even as a hedge – all variations will work well & generally are a cheap enough plant to buy so you can add more numbers to them
After you decide what, where and how many you want to plant, water them in and if dry conditions, water them in regularly but once watered they will grow away to their hearts content, flowing all summer and dispersing their glorious scent throughout your garden – once in flower, you can pick them and put them in a vase within your home getting more out of your beloved lavender – you can dry them too – but that for another day
So you have them planted and in flower all year and now you are wondering what to do with them. Lavenders will tolerate a hard pruning after flowering – this is done well below where they flower – where you see fresh growth on the 4-6 inches below the flowering stems is where you cut them forming a ball shape – this hard pruning is done to prolong the plant and preventing it getting too woody too quickly – please see photos
This photo shows you the lavender plant just after flowering and now its time to prune but where do you start
Start your pruning of the lavender plants with a petrol hedge trimmer if you have one just to take the heavy off of them – if you don’t have access to this, don’t worry a shears is good
As you can see in the above photo, that you are pruning past the flower point – you can see that there is plenty of fresh growth underneath so aim for 4-6 inches below where it flowers – this will give it a cut cut back, shaping it up into a ball shape and to over winter like this
This is what you are trying to achieve with your lavender plants – a good hard pruning and into a balls of equal sizes if you have many of them
This will over winter your lavender plants and when fresh growth starts there’s a lot to be said for the plants growing in ball shapes until they burst into flower
Why not plant a few tulips in and around them like this – this lavender was cut back hard in august last year and is now growing in a nice round shape with the addition of some tulips
It’s best practice too to try get your plants pruned and shaped to the same size – in and around – as this will give a nice formality to your arrangement
The great thing about lavenders are that when they become too woody and leggy that they can be dug up and replaced without costing the world
They are a great plant and gardeners get so much out of but if pruned in the correct manner, you will get many years of enjoyment out of your creation
Thanks and enjoy your gardens.
Darragh
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