English Lavender Varieities| Lavendin Varieties | Pruning

Examples of lavender blooms

Lavender is still used in herbal remedies. Cushions filled with dried lavender can help to induce sleep and ease stress or depression. It can be brewed into a tea, which is then either drunk, used to make compresses for dressing wounds or for applying to the forehead to relieve congestion, headaches, hangovers, tiredness, tension and exhaustion.

Lavandula angustifolias (English Lavender) are “true lavenders”, able to reproduce with seed. The oil has little or no camphor content and is best for burns. Flower stems (penduncles) are generally shorter and smaller in diameter than the intermedia flower stems. All English lavenders are culinary in nature and flowers, buds and leaves can be used as seasoning in pastries, cakes, fish and can be used in place of rosemary. These bloom mid-late spring.

Lavandula hybrids are referred to as Lavandins. Hybrids between L. angustifolia and L. latifolia are called Lavandula x intermedia. They bloom later (late spring/mid-summer) than the ordinary English lavenders. These cannot reproduce by seed and their oil has a slight camphor content. L. x. intermedia generally have much longer and larger stems and are generally more fragrant. The larger penduncles equate to higher oil production. However, because of the camphor content they are generally not for culinary uses but are better when it comes to antiseptic, antiviral and antifungal properties. Lavandins are excellent for bouquets and craft projects.

Lavenders flourish best in dry, well-drained, sandy or gravelly soils in full sun. All types need little or no fertilizer and good air circulation. In areas of high humidity root rot due to fungus infection can be a problem. Organic mulches can trap moisture around the plants' bases, encouraging root rot. Gravelly materials such as crushed rocks give better results.

Lavender is fairly tolerant of low temperatures, generally considered hardy to USDA zone 4 (except for French Lavender, grown as an annual in northern Nevada). It tolerates acid soils but favors neutral to alkaline soils. In some conditions it can be short-lived. It is also deer resistant.

Pruning:

Lavender is a semi-shrub, a plant that looks like a perennial because most of it is soft green growth, but which will turn to wood in the parts that are a few years old. Knowing this is going to help you prune your lavender.
Deep at the center of the mound that your lavender likes to grow into, your lavender plant is trying to turn to wood. One goal of pruning lavender is to slow down the formation of wood.
Here is why:

1. Lavender wood is very weak and prone to splitting under snow, ice, and water-rot.
2. Unlike many true shrubs and trees, lavender wood that has formed usually does not rejuvenate when pruned, but simply dies.
3. Old wood will stop producing new shoots, or will produce spaced-out shoots, destroying overall appearance.

Pruning heavily every year will help slow down the formation of wood and extend the vigor and lifetime of your plant. The tips below will help you make the most of a yearly pruning.

Start pruning young. If you begin by pinching tips of new growth when the plant and its growth is very young, it will respond vigorously with dense branching that helps form a good shape and a lot of blooming growth to work with later. Waiting to prune lets the plant form older, eventually woody growth that responds less well to pruning.

Timing: The best time to prune is after flowering, but lavender is forgiving. All lavenders bloom on the stems that grew this year. This means that pruning can be done any time from after completion of flowering until mid spring without sacrificing that year’s flowering. Pruning late in summer to fall opens air circulation in time for the threats of winter frost and snowdrop. Pruning in spring can delay flowering but is a good time to take down dead, winter-killed parts and shorten growth to the fat, vigorous buds. If you have the time, pruning twice a year is good.

Prune established plants heavily, back at least 1/3. Lavender in full sun can be expected to grow vigorously each year, and vigorous growers need a little yearly punishment to stay vigorous. With your hand pruners or pruning shears, aim to snip back all shoots at least 1/3. Shears are less accurate, but save time and are a necessity for a lavender hedge.

Go heavier on older plants, but don’t cut down to leafless wood. As mentioned before, you can’t rejuvenate older plants by cutting into old wood, but you can try to rejuvenate them by pruning to points just above the wood. A good rule of thumb is to count to the third node above the woody part and then cut just above it. If you are lucky, all three nodes and some hidden nodes buried in the wood will wake up and grow for you.