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Message |
    
Oldstone
Citizen
Username: Rogers4317
Post Number: 672
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:17 am: | 
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i planted lavender de provence last spring and it did very well over the summer into the fall. at the first frost, i cut them all back to about 4". was this the right thing to do? they all look dead with not a remote hint of new growth but inside the cut stalks is alive. will it grow again? it is a perennial, no?
thanks for any information. |
joy
Citizen
Username: Joy
Post Number: 431
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:35 am: |
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Give a bit longer into May.
I cut mine to the ground last year and thought I killed it. It came back by May. |
Camnol
Citizen
Username: Camnol
Post Number: 310
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:38 am: |
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Lavendar is actually a small shrub. It should probably be ok, but you are better off doing any hard pruning of it in the spring, not the fall. If you do a google search, you'll get lots of tips for pruning lavender. You are better off pruning it in stages, I think, so that it doesn't get too leggy. Once it is old enough to have woody stems at the bottom, make sure you don't prune back into those--leave a few inches of newer growth.
Hope this helps |
Oldstone
Citizen
Username: Rogers4317
Post Number: 673
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:39 am: |
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THANKS JOY !! you brought me joy...tell me you haven't heard that before  |
Oldstone
Citizen
Username: Rogers4317
Post Number: 674
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:43 am: |
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and thanks camnol...so you just let the long leaf stalks and even longer flower stems die and dry out over the winter and then cut it back hard before may? |
Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 320
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:48 am: |
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I was surprised to see my lavender last unphased by any winter harshness at all. It's an evergreen? (not sure if it's "de provence") |
mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 580
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 10:53 am: |
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Some lavenders are hardier than others -- the English types are usually safer here than the French 'de Provence' varieties. That said, I kept a Lavender de Provence going for years and years in a somewhat sheltered spot in my garden, so the likelihood is that your young one is fine. (Eventually they get woody and it's tougher for them to make it through our winters.) |
Camnol
Citizen
Username: Camnol
Post Number: 311
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 11:02 am: |
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You are welcome. Watch it as it grows this year. If you see it starting to look "leggy," clip the new growth back an inch or two to encourage the plant to get bushier. As the flowers die, clip them back. In the autumn, I just deadhead all the spent flowers that are left. In the spring, I remove any dead material and cut back about a 1/3 or more. How much depends on the plant. As it matures, you don't want to cut it back to the ground. That's a mistake I made and the plants were never the same.  |
joy
Citizen
Username: Joy
Post Number: 433
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 3:11 pm: |
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Anytime Oldstone! |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 57
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 5:57 pm: |
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One tip I got from a local nurseryman was to leave any frostbitten plant material on the tree/shrub until no more frosts for the year. The frostbitten dead material protects the rest of the plant from further frost and burns. When you know for sure there will be no more frosts, then trim to about a finger's depth below the dead line, watch carefully and within a couple of weeks there should be new growth.
Good luck with the lavender - I usually manage to kill any new-fangled variety I plant, however the old standards just keep growing and attracting bees and butterflies (and ageing cat Minnie) |
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