Article: Have You Cut Back Your Lavender Yet? 💜
Have You Cut Back Your Lavender Yet? 💜
If you have lavender growing in your garden, August is a good time to give it a little attention.
By now, many lavender plants have finished flowering or are coming towards the end of their display. Once flowering has finished, a light prune can help keep the plant compact and encourage healthy growth for the following year. The RHS recommends trimming lavender in late summer, removing the spent flower stalks and around 2.5cm of leafy growth, while taking care not to cut into the old woody stems.
Before you reach for the secateurs, check for bees 🐝
Lavender is one of those plants that gives back to the garden as much as it gives us.
Its nectar-rich flowers are particularly popular with bees, butterflies and other pollinators, which is one of the reasons you'll often see your lavender buzzing with activity throughout the summer. The RHS now includes lavender as a whole group in its Plants for Pollinators recommendations.
At this time of year, when many lavender plants are coming towards the end of flowering, there may still be plenty of bees visiting the remaining flowers. So there's no need to rush out and cut everything back while they're still flowering.
Enjoy the last of the blooms and, once flowering has finished, give the plant its trim.
This is particularly worth remembering during hot, dry weather. Lavender is relatively drought tolerant and can continue providing nectar during warm conditions, while prolonged heat can put other flowering plants under stress and reduce the nectar available to pollinators.
Looking after lavender
Lavender is a wonderfully easy plant to grow in a British garden once it's established.
It prefers a sunny position and well-drained soil and doesn't need much feeding. Established plants are also relatively drought tolerant, making lavender particularly useful during warmer, drier summers.
Good drainage is especially important, as lavender doesn't enjoy sitting in wet soil.
A little attention after flowering can help keep your plants healthy and well-shaped, ready to put on another display next summer.
A little bit of gardening now can make a big difference next year.
Our love of lavender
Lavender has long been one of the plants that inspires us at Botanic & Wild.
We love its familiar scent and the way it has become such a familiar part of the British summer garden. Our White Lavender fragrance takes this classic botanical and gives it a fresh, modern interpretation.
The fragrance opens with lavender, Sicilian lemon and white jasmine, followed by lily, neroli and rose, with tarragon and aromatic woods creating the base.
The result is fresh, floral and softly aromatic - a fragrance that feels particularly fitting right now, while lavender is still fresh in the garden and we're giving the plants their summer trim.
White Lavender is also one of my personal favourites. It's such a timeless, classic scent - fresh and calming with that clean, spa-like quality that makes a room instantly feel more inviting. It's also one of those fragrances that people often comment on when they walk into the room, asking what the lovely smell is.
You can enjoy White Lavender throughout your home as a candle, reed diffuser, home spray, fragrance oil or botanical soy wax melt.
And if you've been enjoying the lavender growing in your own garden this summer, perhaps it's the perfect time to bring a little of that familiar fragrance indoors.
