Q.Trimming lavender
When is the best time to trim my lavender back? My area code is 95037. I don’t believe they have been cut back for a few years, how much should they be trimmed back? Thanks!

Lavender is pretty flexible about pruning. However, it is recommended to prune lavender after it blooms. If it is vastly overgrown with lots of bare wood in the center, consider cutting it way down just before spring growth begins. A less drastic measure is to prune out the woody branches as low as possible over several years. Lavender will not grow leaves from old wood that is bare. So always have some leaves left on stems after routine pruning. Here is a nice article from Univ. of Cal on lavender. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8135.pdf