Monty Don shares ‘best’ time to prune lavender to ‘avoid woody, leggy’ plant next year

Lavenders are low maintenance plants, perfect for different areas in the garden like borders and containers.

They need lots of sun and fast-draining soil and it will not survive shady conditions or cold conditions in the long term.

Sharing gardening advice for the month in his latest blog post, Monty Don shared how Britons can avoid their lavenders turning “woody” and “leggy”.

Monty wrote: “To avoid woody, leggy plants, lavender should be pruned every year. The best time to do this is as soon as the flowers start to fade.

“Depending on the variety, this can be anytime between mid-summer and the end of August.

READ MORE: Four important gardening jobs to complete in August

“But do not wait for the seed heads to form or the flowers to turn brown as you want to allow the maximum amount of time for regrowth before winter.”

Gardeners should cut back hard to ensure their lavender is a good contact shape, making sure to leave some new shoots on each stem.

This is because lavender will often not regrow from bare wood, according to the gardening expert.

Monty added: “These new shoots will grow fast and provide an attractive and healthy cover to protect the plant in winter and provide the basis of next year’s display.”

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Hydrangeas are a common flower found in many British gardens and they can be easily propagated from cuttings taken in late summer.

Gardeners looking to increase the number of hydrangea plants they have, or grow more to share with other gardeners, can take cuttings from all varieties of hydrangea including mophead, lacecap and climbing.

If your lavender plant is particularly old, it may look woody and straggly even after being pruned hard during the month.

If this is the case, it is best to replace the plant completely to keep the garden looking nice and neat.

If gardeners forget to prune their lavender after summer has finished, then it’s best to wait until the following spring, especially for less hardy French, Spanish and Italian lavenders.

Judith Hann, author of Herbs, explained: “The normal advice is to replace plants when they become leggy, usually after three to five years. But I avoid having to do this by cutting right back into the wood.

“I have not lost a lavender plant yet in the 20 years they have been growing in my garden.”

Although not often recommended, it can be a good way to encourage lavender to grow. Gardeners should look for some signs of life in the form of growth nodes below the cutting point.

If the plant is cut beyond this, the stems may not recover. This means it is important to examine them closely before making any decisions.