dead lavender plant

Question

What do I do when lavender dies back –
cut out dead wood?
cut back hard?
water intensively?
start again?

any answers most welcome

Answer 1

Lavender is a woody plant and needs to be pruned annually or the woody stems get thicker and less productive. Plus the plant looks sloppy/floppy. I have selectively removed overgrown stems to open up the plant and let more sunshine in. Hard pruning is typically done when the plant is dormant in winter. My sister cut them to the ground, not knowing what else to do and the plant came roaring back the next spring. Did you trim off the spent blooms? There may be growth underneath that you can’t see. Lavender doesn’t like a lot of water so that is not a solution. I confess to starting from seed again when I was an inexperienced gardener. It is easy to grow from seed, in my opinion. It doesn’t germinate rapidly so patience is key.