Lavender, with its intoxicating fragrance, evokes summer, sunshine and the Mediterranean. It forms a beautiful hardy perennial undershrub, making it a must-have for dry gardens. Its charming violet, mauve, pink or even white flower spikes bloom and perfume the garden throughout the summer. Low-maintenance and hardy, lavender thrives in very well-drained, poor and stony soil. Most lavender varieties are extremely resilient down to -15°C, except for Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) which suffers in temperatures below -5°C. Lavender should be planted in full sun and easily withstands intense heat and drought. To maintain its lovely rounded, bushy shape, lavender needs regular pruning.

Discover all our tips and advice for successful lavender pruning!

When to prune lavender?

Lavender should be pruned annually when the flowers begin to fade, from late July to mid-August. Moreover, the pruned flowers can be used to create lovely bouquets that will perfume your home or wardrobes.

How to cut lavender?

Equipment: what will you need?

You will need secateurs and shears. Disinfect your tools with alcohol before use to prevent the spread of diseases between plants.

Why prune and maintain lavender?

Pruning lavender helps maintain a beautiful rounded shape, keeps it compact and prevents the formation of hard wood that would become bare over time without producing new shoots. It's therefore important to act in advance! Without maintenance, lavender becomes straggly, sparse and grey in places. Moreover, cutting lavender prevents premature ageing of the plant and extends its lifespan by encouraging branching. Thinning it out also helps avoid fungal diseases. Use the flowers to make small bouquets or scented sachets that act as moth repellents. As my grandmother used to say: "when you have lavender in your wardrobe, moths disappear in a flash!"

Example of unpruned lavender becoming sparse in places

Formative pruning

This is done on young plants planted in the current year. Using secateurs or shears, cut back any overly vigorous young branches and shape your lavender into a rounded form. This encourages dense growth and branching in the young plant. To avoid weakening it, take care not to cut back more than half its height.

Maintenance pruning

This helps mature plants maintain a rounded shape and prevents lavender from becoming bare.

  • Gather the flowering stems into bunches and cut them with secateurs. The bunches can be kept to perfume your home. Tip: Flowers cut in the evening are much less fragrant than those cut in the morning! For a fragrant home, be an early riser!
  • Then, using shears, cut back the current year's growth by half to create a spherical shape.
  • Important precautions: never cut below the last green leaves and don't touch the old wood of the lavender! This cannot produce new shoots. Over-pruning can be fatal!
Cut flower stems with secateurs, then prune current year's growth by half with shears.

My lavender is bare! What should I do?

If your lavender is becoming bare in places, you can remove one or two old branches. Be careful, lavender dislikes hard pruning! Proceed sparingly:

  • Select an old, bare branch.
  • Check that above this old branch there are young shoots from the current year that can be pruned. Cut these young shoots back by half to encourage branching. As they regrow, they will "hide" the bare branch.
  • If you wish to remove the old branch completely, cut it back to ground level.
  • Apply a wound sealant to protect your plant.

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