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Trimming Lavender and Wisteria
Hi All
We moved house and inherited some Lavender (maybe French Lavender) which I realise now I should have tended to a few months back, this is how they currently look.
Is it too late to give them a trim? Also where would you normally trim to? I have had a search and they say not to cut into the woody part but the stems are all quite rigid and woody. Would you cut down as far as the lower red line?
Also we have a Wisteria which flowered in early spring, again I've tried to read up and they recommend cutting the tendrils back to about 6 buds length around september and then down to 2 or 3 buds in January. Our tendrils are quite short so should I just trim back once in Jan?
Thanks for the help!
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The wisteria is young so doesn't need to be pruned, but it could do with more training to establish a better plant. I'd add more wires / trellis and , after leaf-fall ( to make life easier) re-train it to cover more of the wall. Aim to have the stems about 1ft / 30cm apart vertically.
Yes, I would cut to the lower red line for your lavender.
Can I back what Hostafan has said. A Wisteria needs drilled in vine eyes and 2 or 3mm wire with tensioners. It's a heavy plant when in full flower and especially when wet. Whats there at the moment will pull out of the wall if it gets any bigger.
Thank you all for the replies, I bit the bullet and took the secateurs to the lavender.
I removed all the dead parts and tried to put a bit of shape back into them and finally removed all the dead heads, tho I worry i may have cut them a bit too aggressively
The one at the front is still flowering so I am i better leaving it to do its thing for a while?
My garden waste bin does smell nice now too!
I grow a lot of lavender and secateurs take far too long! I take the shears and clip them back hard to leave a rounded shape with just a small amount of leaf left - so at last down as far as the bottom red line. Lavender tends to continue growing from where it left off last year and does not regenerate from below so if you don't trim back rigourously your plants become very leggy in a very few years. Take care not to trim back into old wood though - you must leave a bit of grey leaf.
My lovely scented trimmings go in amongst the towels and sheets in the airing cupboard!