@Plantminded, I've always remembered this tip too, I think it was a gardening TV representer ( of GW?) some years ago now. Cant remember his name, perhaps Tony Buckland, but I seem to remember he had white hair.I always follow that advise though as it's easy to remember.
I had the same advice give to me by a lavender nursery, where I brought 120 different lavenders to plant out a poor stony site: cut back on the 8th day of the 8th month. Can't remember whether it was 8 cm! It has worked for 15 years, but I think now the bushes are getting rather too old. The idea of the cut in August is that the plant has 6 to 8 weeks of good growing weather to put on new growth before winter, and will look good through the winter.
I harvest a fair amount, for vases etc, in Summer then cut the flowering stems down or off to prevent rain/wind/snow battering the plant. Some of my smaller/newer Lavenders I sometimes just leave for Winter. Then in Spring, I tidy them up by pruning back but never into woody stems. Often I will use a scissors to cut each stem individually - takes a while but it has become a little ritual now.
I've still got significant amounts of, mostly Bumble Bess, visiting the last remaining flowers. So, whilst I'd like to trim the patio border down, I'd feel a bit guilty of that. The rain may well have knocked much of the remaining flowers off so will likely give them a trim this weekend.
Too late for me - please feedback on whether it worked!
I must admit that I was a bit loathe to cut off the flower spikes in August, but they were fading from bright blue to grey blue. However, the plants have already put on some good new growth and are bulking up nicely for next year. (I've got some other plants nearby that the bees are still bombarding so don't feel too guilty!)
Mine are all still very purple and covered in bees, they usually go until November as we're quite sheltered here, so I've always left them until spring to cut them back. It really just depends on when the flowers go over, and location - if it's cold enough in winter to warrant leaving some leaf protection, or all of it.
The bees in my garden seem to prefer the Echinaceas, Heleniums and Dahlias now - the lavenders are pretty much over so I think I'll just do it. Really need to get outside and get on with it rather than writing about it!
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It really just depends on when the flowers go over, and location - if it's cold enough in winter to warrant leaving some leaf protection, or all of it.