perennial plants

I cut my lavender hard back at the end of August just to keep the border tidy: in May, with only two green stems on the whole bush, I understood where the blades had gone

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I cut my lavender hard back at the end of August just to keep the border tidy: in May, with only two green stems on the wh...

A single overzealous pruning in August left a once-lush lavender bush reduced to just two green stems by spring. The mistake? Cutting too deep into the woody base—the part lavender cannot regenerate from. Discover the pruning rule that saves plants and how to rescue an over-cut lavender.

I cut my lavender back into the bare wood like any other shrub: when I saw what happened by spring, it was too late

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I cut my lavender back into the bare wood like any other shrub: when I saw what happened by spring, it was too late

A single aggressive pruning cut can turn a thriving lavender plant into dead wood by spring. Unlike other shrubs, lavender has a critical weakness: it cannot regenerate from old, woody stems. Master the precise timing and technique that separates successful gardeners from those left holding brittle sticks.