Lavender September 2011
Lavender September 2011
This is certain proof, as far as I am concerned, that my approach to pruning English Lavender (i.e. chopping it back deep into the old wood once flowering is over, so that it looks like nothing so much as a large hedgehog), really works satisfactorily, and allows the lavender to last for years (twenty years some say) rather than getting woody and exhausted after three or four years. The last winter was the most brutal experienced here in living memory, and a great many plants, including ones that are thought much hardier than lavender, perished. The lavender’s current year’s growth is not particularly impressive, it is true, but I think this is on account of the lack of sunshine since April.
Lavender October 2011
The first two pictures were taken in September; the next in October, then one in November. The same clump was photographed in April, and the last one is the clump today.
Lavender November 2011
Lavender April 2012
I don’t know whether this applies to French Lavender, as I gather that is a little more tender than the English.
Lavender August 2012
Amazing, but a sure-fire way to kill it in Devon!!
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Edward Reply:
August 6th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
How do you know? What’s different about Devon that might affect it?
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Lavender is very short-lived in Devon – it hates the winter damp, soggy feet etc. I can only grow it in gravel, and even then it struggles. The odd occasion when I have pruned severely has been terminal! I suspect your wood is much ‘tighter’ and in better condition to throw out new shoots?
[Reply]
Edward Reply:
August 6th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I bet you’re right – that it’s the winter damp that prevents the wood being nice and tight. Not the cold as such. How do you define “tightness”? I am not enough of a botanist to get a good handle on this. We don’t need to change anything here, as our sandy stuff drains everything away more or less instantly (even from last night’s violent thunderstorm and cloudburst).
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