Should You Cut Back on Lavender Plants in the Fall?

Lavender, with its fragrant purple flower spikes and aromatic foliage, requires proper pruning to thrive. Cut it back twice a year for best results. Clipping for bouquets during the growing season also helps keep the plant compact and neat.

Fall Pruning

Near the end of the growing season, in early fall, cut lavender's green growth down to about 2 inches above woody growth. Do not cut the woody branches, however. These will not produce new shoots. Trimming the green growth from this perennial flowering shrub in the fall helps promote denser leaf and flower development in the spring.

Spring Pruning

In late spring, after numerous green stems and some flower spikes have begun to appear, cut lavender plants back again, this time by about two-thirds, but still leaving at least 2 inches of green growth above woody branches. This seemingly drastic trimming stimulates the plant to produce even more green growth throughout the summer and into early fall.

In-Season Cutting

One of the reasons to cultivate lavender is to harvest its fragrant flowers and stems during the growing season. This cutting also helps the plant develop bushier growth and put out new shoots. Snip above woody growth, just as in pruning.

References

• Washington State University Extension: Lavender

Resources

• North Carolina State University Extension: Lavender History, Taxonomy and Production