English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is a popular perennial cherished for its silvery-green foliage, classic fragrance, and versatile use in both ornamental gardens and culinary applications. This hardy shrub naturally develops a rounded, mounding habit. Without regular maintenance, however, it quickly becomes leggy and woody, which significantly reduces flower production and shortens the plant’s lifespan. Consistent, correct pruning is the most important action a gardener can take to ensure the lavender remains compact, vigorous, and produces the maximum number of fragrant blooms each season.
Timing Your Annual Pruning Cuts
Pruning involves two primary intervals, each serving a distinct purpose for the plant’s health and bloom cycle. The most significant and structurally important cut should take place in late summer or early autumn, immediately after the main flush of flowers has faded. This post-bloom prune removes spent flower stems and shapes the plant, encouraging new growth that forms the framework for the following year’s flowers. Timing this cut is important, as it needs to occur at least six to eight weeks before the first hard frost to allow the new growth to harden off and avoid winter damage.
A lighter, secondary pruning is beneficial in early spring, once the threat of severe frost has passed and new leaf buds begin to swell. The purpose of this spring trim is to refine the plant’s shape and remove stems damaged or killed by winter cold. This is not the time for a hard structural cut; instead, it is a clean-up that stimulates the plant to push out healthy, vigorous shoots. Pruning at these two points promotes a continual supply of new stems capable of producing flowers.
The common mistake of waiting until late autumn or winter to perform the main cut can stimulate tender new growth that is highly susceptible to cold injury. This late-season growth does not have sufficient time to mature before the cold weather arrives, potentially compromising the plant’s overall hardiness. By performing the substantial cut in late summer, the plant can direct its energy into developing a dense, compact form that is better prepared to withstand winter conditions.
Step-by-Step Standard Pruning Technique
Successful lavender pruning requires clean, sharp bypass pruners or secateurs to ensure a precise cut that minimizes damage to the stem tissue. Before making any cuts, identify the transition point where the soft, silvery-green foliage meets the tough, brown, woody base of the plant. A standard cut for an established, healthy plant should always be made into the green or leafy growth, avoiding the old wood entirely.
For the main post-flowering prune, remove about one-third of the plant’s overall height. This heavy but careful reduction prevents the plant from becoming leggy and promotes a dense, branching structure below the cut. The cut should be made just above a set of healthy leaves or a visible node, which is the point on the stem where new growth will emerge. First, remove the spent flower spikes, then shape the entire shrub.
The ideal shape is a rounded, symmetrical mound or dome, achieved by cutting the outer stems slightly shorter than the central ones. This dome-like shape allows sunlight to penetrate the inner parts of the shrub, promoting air circulation and preventing the center from becoming bare and woody. Consistent annual pruning by one-third maintains the plant’s size, preventing it from outgrowing its space and forcing new growth from a lower point each year.
Revitalizing Old, Woody Lavender
A neglected English lavender plant develops a significant, brown, woody skeleton with only a small amount of green foliage at the tips. Traditional horticultural advice warns against cutting into this old, brown wood because English lavender does not reliably regenerate from leafless stems, often leaving a dead patch or killing the plant entirely. However, severely overgrown plants require a more drastic approach, known as rejuvenation pruning, which carries a higher risk.
For an old, woody plant, the goal is to force latent buds (small, dormant growth points) on the older wood to emerge. This rejuvenation technique involves cutting much harder than the standard one-third rule, sometimes removing up to two-thirds of the total plant mass, but still attempting to stop just above the lowest signs of green growth. You can look for small, faint tufts of new growth or nodes very close to the woody base and make the cut just above these points.
This hard cut should ideally be performed in early spring to give the plant the maximum possible growing season to recover. It is important to understand that this is a gamble, and the plant may not survive the severity of the prune, but it is often the only option short of replacement. If the plant does respond, the new growth will be slow, but subsequent annual maintenance will be much easier, allowing the plant to regain a compact, floriferous shape over the next few seasons.