Lavender

I live in zone 5, and wonder how I should treat Lavender before the season starts....do I need to cut back last years growth? Thanks

Reply to
BeTu
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Lavender hardiness depends on the species, but I am not aware of any that will survive a winter in USDA zone 5 or even zones 6 and 7.

While pruning lavender will rejuvenate the plant, it must be done carefully. As with other relatives of salvia -- rosemary, sage, mint, etc -- there must be green leaves remaining below the cut. Otherwise the branch will die back to its base. If a branch has no green leaves, remove the entire branch. If there are no green leaves on the plant at all, it is dead; lavender is evergreen.

Reply to
David E. Ross

I'm in zone 6b and my lavender survived this past winter - I think it's about 3-4 years old. I did lose a rosemary and a rue

Reply to
kate

"David E. Ross" wrote

It's happy to overwinter in zone7 (I'm a 7B on the edge of 6, Virginia Beach area).

Reply to
cshenk

we are in Zone 5, but i cannot say what variety (or varieties) we have. i do know they survive here and we get some offspring from seeds.

the rest of what David says here rings true to me. we trim either late summer/fall or in the spring before the active growing season hits. a very light trim of the previous flower stalks and any dead branches. once in a while a plant doesn't make it and we replace it by cutting off the plant and letting one of the seedlings take over.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

You shouldn't prune lavender at a time of year when there is a risk of frost, because frost damage to the cut end can let disease in. There are two pruning regimes recommended for it. Choose which suits you.

(1) summer/autumn prune: prune it any time from after the flowers are over to about a couple of weeks before the first serious risk of frost. I usually do it in late August with a hedge trimmer.

(2) spring prune: prune it as soon as the risk of serious frost is over.

The first generally results in more flowers, and is ideal if you harvest the flowers. The second allows you to enjoy the dried flowers on the plant through the winter.

Reply to
echinosum

snipped-for-privacy@cox.net wrote: >"David E. Ross" wrote >

Im in zone 5 and have the same plants for 4 or 5 years and still growing strong. over winter do nothing special

Reply to
Will Renkel

Thanks for all the feedback folks! Very helpful. Have a great summer!

Reply to
BeTu

Welcome BeTu! I don't do anything with mine at all except in Spring. I trim back anything not greening up. I wait for it to green up for 2 weeks before deciding what to trim. Some years, it's nothing. This year due to Norfolk area getting several feet of snow (big one was 24 inches in my yard and covered the plant as a drift 4ft tall was over it), I probably was close to zone5 for what such plants expect. I'll need to trim a bit of some of the top it looks like, but it's more like the weight of the snow crushed some of it's fragile stems. It's 3ft or so tall and is getting a 'haircut' to about 2.5 feet in a few spots.

Reply to
cshenk

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