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Last year I pruned my lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) very aggressively, so that the bushes resulted quite small, with very short branches. I pruned it in about October (I leave at about 45° North). This year my lavender produced a lot of short (no more then 10-15 cm long) spikes, for three times during summer (in May, July and September) and its flowers were very small. I think (but I'm not sure!) that this behavior depends on the way I pruned it. I would prefer it to flourish only once during summer, with fewer, more robust spikes and bigger flowers.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Starnuto di topo
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Pruning lavender in October is perfect. Take NO MORE THAN 1/3 of the plant. Heading is what this kind of pruning is called. Using hedge shears you cut off the tips making the top of an umbrella...sides wider than the center. What did you fertilize these plant with? If you are using too much Nitrogen you will get lots of vegetative growth and not much reproductive growth...ie) flowers. These plants do so much better with a shearing once a year! I have got to learn how to be able to put up a hand sketch on this stuff. Imagine the shears to be absolutely TANGENT to the circumference. Perpendicular to the radius/diameter. How often did you prune? My thinking is you may have done too much, all at once and fertilized with too much Nitrogen...

stormy
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  • Last year, I pruned it once in October. This summer I just cut the flowers (in May, July and September). I did not fertilize it at all: I just gave it some water (not much, actually). Thanks for your answer! – Starnuto di topo Sep 07 '15 at 09:32