When it comes to gardening, you don’t need to know everything about the plants you’re growing, but it helps to understand the watering and pruning requirements of things like lavender. This beautifully coloured perennial shrub can grow profusely in the right conditions, and should come back year after year with plenty of flowers. But much of this comes down to pruning, for which gardening experts suggest following a simple rule.
A gardening expert at Monrovia Nurseries recommended shaping English lavender and hybrid varieties into a “tidy, rounded mound of foliage” that appears attractive year-round, including winter and summer. To secure a bushier display of flowers, the 8-8-8 rule is a must, according to gardening fanatics.
Several members of the ‘Gardening Hints and Tips UK’ Facebook Group suggested the pruning tip when one member asked how to tackle a “huge lavender plant” in her garden.
Green-fingered gardeners chimed in with the same advice: “Eight inches on the eighth day of the eighth month.”
The 8-8-8 rule for lavender is a pruning technique that refers to pruning English lavender plants back to about eight inches (20cm) on the eighth day of the month (August).
One gardening group member noted that doing so is said to “maintain a compact, bushy shape and encourage healthy new growth for the following year.”
However, the rule doesn’t explain exactly how to prune lavender plants correctly. Fortunately, it’s easy to grasp.
How to prune lavender
Hardy lavenders are best pruned after they have finished flowering in late August or September.
The gardening experts at Thompson Morgan recommend cutting back eight inches from the top of the plant, but always ensuring you cut to just above a group of new shoots.
They said, “Go any lower and the lavender will die.”
Frost-hardy lavenders bloom for an extended period, so prune them after the initial flowering has faded, using the same methods as for hardy lavender.
Afterwards, simply deadhead regularly and tidy up at the season’s end if necessary. Avoid pruning later than mid-September.