I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

On 4/6/11 7:18 PM, BeTu wrote:
I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any
that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

While pruning lavender will rejuvenate the plant, it must be done
carefully. As with other relatives of salvia -- rosemary, sage, mint,
etc -- there must be green leaves remaining below the cut. Otherwise
the branch will die back to its base. If a branch has no green leaves,
remove the entire branch. If there are no green leaves on the plant at
all, it is dead; lavender is evergreen.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:29:01 -0700, "David E. Ross"
wrote:

On 4/6/11 7:18 PM, BeTu wrote:
I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any
that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

While pruning lavender will rejuvenate the plant, it must be done
carefully. As with other relatives of salvia -- rosemary, sage, mint,
etc -- there must be green leaves remaining below the cut. Otherwise
the branch will die back to its base. If a branch has no green leaves,
remove the entire branch. If there are no green leaves on the plant at
all, it is dead; lavender is evergreen.

I'm in zone 6b and my lavender survived this past winter - I think
it's about 3-4 years old. I did lose a rosemary and a rue

"David E. Ross" wrote

On 4/6/11 7:18 PM, BeTu wrote:
I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any
that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

It's happy to overwinter in zone7 (I'm a 7B on the edge of 6, Virginia Beach
area).

David E. Ross wrote:
On 4/6/11 7:18 PM, BeTu wrote:
I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any
that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

While pruning lavender will rejuvenate the plant, it must be done
carefully. As with other relatives of salvia -- rosemary, sage, mint,
etc -- there must be green leaves remaining below the cut. Otherwise
the branch will die back to its base. If a branch has no green leaves,
remove the entire branch. If there are no green leaves on the plant at
all, it is dead; lavender is evergreen.

we are in Zone 5, but i cannot say what
variety (or varieties) we have. i do know
they survive here and we get some offspring
from seeds.

the rest of what David says here rings
true to me. we trim either late summer/fall
or in the spring before the active growing
season hits. a very light trim of the
previous flower stalks and any dead branches.
once in a while a plant doesn't make it
and we replace it by cutting off the plant
and letting one of the seedlings take over.


songbird

You shouldn't prune lavender at a time of year when there is a risk of frost, because frost damage to the cut end can let disease in. There are two pruning regimes recommended for it. Choose which suits you.
(1) summer/autumn prune: prune it any time from after the flowers are over to about a couple of weeks before the first serious risk of frost. I usually do it in late August with a hedge trimmer.
(2) spring prune: prune it as soon as the risk of serious frost is over.

The first generally results in more flowers, and is ideal if you harvest the flowers. The second allows you to enjoy the dried flowers on the plant through the winter.

Lavender is a attractive flower, which is the soothing scent of their properties & can be used for plenty of things. Tea, packing & exquisite handmade items you can make it a popular flower in the bud. lavender flower stems & buds are harvested in bundles must be preserved by drying flowers & distributed to various makes use of.

"BeTu" wrote
(Will Renkel) wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"David E. Ross" wrote

I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the
season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any
that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

It's happy to overwinter in zone7 (I'm a 7B on the edge of 6, Virginia
Beach
area).

Im in zone 5 and have the same plants for 4 or 5 years
and still growing strong.
over winter do nothing special

Thanks for all the feedback folks! Very helpful. Have a great summer!

Welcome BeTu! I don't do anything with mine at all except in Spring. I
trim back anything not greening up. I wait for it to green up for 2 weeks
before deciding what to trim. Some years, it's nothing. This year due to
Norfolk area getting several feet of snow (big one was 24 inches in my yard
and covered the plant as a drift 4ft tall was over it), I probably was close
to zone5 for what such plants expect. I'll need to trim a bit of some of
the top it looks like, but it's more like the weight of the snow crushed
some of it's fragile stems. It's 3ft or so tall and is getting a 'haircut'
to about 2.5 feet in a few spots.

I've read quite a few things about caring for lavenders. And from what I know, you need not do anything to your lavender on its first growth year. Then during autumn, after the flowerings has finished, you would need to just prune the top 6 inches. do this once yearly at that time of year and it is just that easy. Lavenders are very easy to grow and propagate.