lavendar

i killed one lavendar plant already, and don't want to do it to my second one. when the purple ends dry up, do i just cut the tops off? or is there something i need to do to keep the plant thriving?

I assume you are talking about cutting off the flower spike once the flowers have gone past their prime? If this is the case, I don't think that is what killed your lavendar plant. They are actually kind of picky, must have very very good drainage, and don't overwater. They don't like a lot of food or rich soil either.
Not all varieties are hardy for winter either. It could be a lot of things that killed yours. Mine have usually died because of poor drainage and wet feet. A big no no with these plants.

Hello Christy! I always think of giving a lavendar a haircut. It's only a slight trim to remove the old flowers. I've just put in a couple of new plants. I tend to use a lot of food - manure and such - so I'm not too sure how they'll do now! But they're in a nice dry, sunny spot.

Christy, I have several lavendar plants in my garden, and have only 2-3 that haven't done well over this last winter. Most are from seed, started 2 years ago, and only a couple are nursery stock. All seem to do equally, but the tip from DK about wet feet and poor drainage may be the answer to the few that haven't done well. In a previous setting (different house) my lavenders had excellent drainage and thrived beyond any expectations I had! I never bothered to cut the flower tips, unless for a sachet or something. Didn't seem to matter.

I have improved clay soil. My first try with lavendar resulted in them dying from wet feet. I tried again with excellent luck this time. I put pea gravel in the planting hold and mulched it with pea gravel. They have come back now for at least 5 years and have dropped seed and multiplied.

Okay next Question Mine are real scraggly looking, How do I get them to grow nice and full? I only trim them back by 1/3 each fall, they are 4 years old and live in a well drained spot.

i live in zone 4. i ahve a couple of lavenders in my garden that make it thru the winter. they look dead..i have learned not to touch them too early. all of a sudden i will start seeing new growth and by summer they are full and beautiful.Hope this helps. e

so when the ends of the lavendar dry out, i shouldn't bother cutting them off?

My mom's lavender munstead got very leggy; I think it was because it didn't get enough sun and reached for the light. She's transplanted it to a sunnier location. How much can she trim this fella back without throwing him into shock or killing him?

well i know the books say not to cut back into old wood,but i had a hedge of lavender that took some heavy punishment,ie.got trodden all over - all the main branches were split and broken to the base.being a lazy cat,i left them for a while and lo and behold,new growth from the base occurred
so maybe just stomp on them lol

I had a lavander which I planted ten years ago, it was my first plant in my garden. Over the years it got very leggy and sprawly, I was afraid to prune it because of its age and size, so the best solution I could come up with was to buy a few 4" pots of the same variety and plant them right in the middle of it to fill in the gaps, it's kind of cheating I guess but it worked great. After season or two you could not tell. As far as cuttingthe old blooms I only cut what I want to enjoy inside, the rest I leave alone, mine seem to do just fine that way.