Should I cut back my lavender in the spring?

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KaylyRed Watertown, WI(Zone 5a) Mar 19, 2008

I grew lavender for the first time last year and it really took off in my garden--it more than quadrupled its size over the growing season. Now that the snow's gone it's looking rather ratty and trampled (from the snow lying on top of it all winter, I suppose). Two questions for the gardening experts:

Should I cut it back? How far?

And if I should cut it back, when? Do I wait for new growth to begin?

Of course, maybe I should worry about whether it made it through the winter before I start wondering about how to clean it up for spring, but I have my fingers crossed. It was really one of my favorite plants last year.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Mar 19, 2008

Do you know which species of lavender you had? I think there may be one or two species that can make it in zone 5 but there are several that are less hardy as well, so without knowing which one you had it's hard to say whether it'll come back or not. Does any of the foliage still look green (or silvery/gray if that was its original color)? If it is still alive I'd probably wait until after your last frost date to cut it back.

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KaylyRed Watertown, WI(Zone 5a) Mar 19, 2008

I'm not certain what species/cultivar this is--it looks like common English lavender, though. It's got silvery-green foliage, grows fairly long flower spires, and the flowers are a pale purple instead of the darker purple I sometimes see. I picked it up at our farm market here in Madison, WI. It was tagged as lavandula, but no other information was listed. I did ask the merchant if it was hardy and she said that it was hardy to zone 4. Of course, that doesn't mean it's still alive.

Right now the plant looks silvery colored and dormant. I don't see any signs of life. But it's still fairly cold here with daytime temps in the 30s and 40s and evening temps in the 20s, so I don't expect to see much of anything just yet.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Mar 19, 2008

If it's still silvery colored then it's probably fine--if it was looking brown and dead then I'd worry. My lavenders here in zone 9 are just barely getting going with new growth, so I wouldn't expect to see anything for a little while in your area.

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vadap Aurora, CO(Zone 5b) Mar 23, 2008

I'm in zone 5b here in Denver. Your plants are probably still fine. My better half bought one a couple of years ago, along with the 'can you put this in your garden?'. I also have 2 that I started from seed the same year. After the first winter, I was thinking the same as you. But they did great, with the roots growing through winter. As far as pruning, I'm not sure. I figure mother nature did a pretty good job of taking care of things before we came along.

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