Does lavender need to be covered in winter?
Third, it is important to cover your Lavender plants (zone 5 and below) with winter protection. Being that Lavender is an evergreen shrub, these plants are susceptible to winter burn and have a hard time fighting the natural winter elements.
Temperature: During winter, lavenders like it cool but not drafty; the temperature can drop to as low as 40°F (5°C) at night and shouldn't be warmer than 65°F (18°C) during the day. This means that you ought to keep them away from heaters that will dry them out and drafty windows that could chill them too much.
If your plant will be inside for the winter, keep it in a cool, non-freezing location with sunlight and air circulation. Slow down watering of plants. Lavender prefers a dry soil, and the amount of rain that naturally falls will be sufficient for the plant.
When to Cover. You will want to wait until the first hard frost to winterize your lavender. If you cover your plants too early, they will be much too warm and it will confuse the plant. Lavender goes into its dormancy phase during the colder months.
In cold climates with English lavenders the old growth may turn a gray colour and appear dead after a harsh Winter but it will come back with new growth and stems emerging in the Spring.
Test it by cutting a small stalk close to the base. If it snaps easily, that stalk is dead. Test several more stalks around the base of the plant before giving up hope – sometimes a plant can die out in one section, but still have life left in others.
Frost tolerant
A hardy perennial from the Mediterranean, lavender will survive winter temperatures to -17C / 0F.
Cold, wet soils in winter are the most frequent time lavenders turn brown, so avoid watering all together, unless the lavender is indoors in which case a light watering once every 4-6 weeks is all that it requires.
Examine the branches of lavender during the winter to determine if the plants have gone dormant. Dormant plants will turn brown along the branches, while non-dormant lavender foliage will remain green and may boast their characteristic purple flowers.
What is this? The only way to revive lavender that has been in the shade is to transfer it to a pot and place it in the sun as quickly as possible. Lavenders require sun all year round, including during the winter dormancy so plant the lavender in a nice open space that is not under a tree canopy or any other shade.
Should lavender be cut down every year?
An annual pruning is an important step for long-lasting lavender (Lavandula spp. and hybrids) plants. Without it they grow a large, lanky, woody base that can split open — it looks bad and shortens the plant's lifespan.
If you do not prune lavender, the plant can become overgrown, scraggly, and it might not bloom as profusely. So, if you want to make sure that this doesn't happen to your plant, you should get into the habit of trimming it regularly.
Prune in late August after they've finished blooming. Less hardy than their English cousins take extra care not to cut back into the woody part of the plant. Cut back by about 1/2 of the height of the plant leaving plenty of green leaves intact. Aim for a tidy, rounded mound of foliage (that looks good in winter, too).
Lavender can turn gray because of frost damage or as a result of a fungal disease, caused by over watering or slow draining soils. Usually the fungus botrytis spp is responsible for lavender leaves turning gray although there are a few pathogens that may cause lavenders to turn gray.
Dormancy happens when temps cool and sunlight is less available. Dead lavender will have no sign of green but instead the branches will be brown and hollow. Temperature is another reason why your lavender plant may be dying. Snow doesn't affect mature lavender plants, but chilly temps will.
When sited correctly and pruned judiciously, lavenders should live for five to seven years. Although lavender is fairly drought tolerant, adequate moisture is required throughout the growing season. Most critical are the weeks after planting to ensure that soil around the rootball does not dry out.
Lavender is a Low-Maintenance Perennial
And this beauty will come back to your garden every year, for about 3-5 years, so it's a great investment. What is this? Before you make any plant purchases, however, I want to remind you to always choose plants that thrive in your plant hardiness zone.
So, while your lavenders may not be totally dead, they are probably not worth saving. Unfortunately, when plants are severely damaged, even if they can regrow they will not regrow uniformly or with the same shapeliness they had previously.
Whilst frosts are the most common reason for lavenders not surviving winter there are a few other causes that you need to be aware of such as: Cold soils retain more water which can lead to root rot as lavenders need their roots to be dry with good soil drainage.
If you have lavender plants that are hardy in your growing zone (see our Lavender 101 post for more information on this), it is likely that they will return year after year for a decade or two. But even the toughest perennials may still look quite grisly after their long winter dormancy.
Can I cut lavender back to the ground?
Never cut them back, hoping to stimulate new growth. The plant cannot produce new growth from the woody parts. When you're pruning woody lavender plants, it's also a good idea not to prune all of the plant at the same time. Instead, work slowly, trimming back each branch, but never cutting into the brown wood.
Gardening expert Leigh Clapp suggested tackling the popular plant in two stages. They said: “Trim after flowering in fall [autumn], then prune in the spring.” It's important gardeners don't prune lavender too hard after the summer as the plant may struggle to survive cooler temperatures.
“It's true that lavender doesn't regenerate if you cut hard back like this, but you can often find signs of young shoots sprouting from those lower, woody stems. This is a good indication that hard pruning could help to regenerate the plant.
Proper pruning and deadheading of lavender plants will increase your harvest of flower spikes for dried flowers and make your plants more beautiful and healthy. Lavender benefits greatly from being pruned in mid-spring and deadheaded in the summer.
The best time to prune your lavender is in the fall, at least 6 weeks before your first frost date. In our part of the country, that means we start pruning the fields as soon as we're done with the essential oil distillation at the end of September, with the aim of finishing by mid-October.
Prune lavender in late summer to fall — after the plant flowers — to help open the plant's interior to allow good air circulation and remove some of the branches, which can ultimately help prevent winter damage.
English Lavender varieties, are the only lavender species which is cold hardy and will regularly survive winters in colder climates, despite frosts and snow. The Popular English variety lavender Hidcote Superior can even reportedly survive temperatures up to -30 °C (-20 °F) during winter.
As a perennial, lavender will survive winter only for temperatures that do not consistently fall well below freezing. Such temperature will very likely kill most of the strains depending on the hardiness of the lavender and age.
- Move containers to a sheltered spot over winter, so they aren't exposed to really harsh weather.
- Give them some protection from winter rain by standing them in the lee of a wall (at the base) or in a coldframe or greenhouse. Having their roots in damp compost makes the plants more susceptible to root rots.
When sited correctly and pruned judiciously, lavenders should live for five to seven years. Although lavender is fairly drought tolerant, adequate moisture is required throughout the growing season. Most critical are the weeks after planting to ensure that soil around the rootball does not dry out.
What happens if you don't prune lavender?
Prune for healthier lavender plants
An annual pruning is an important step for long-lasting lavender (Lavandula spp. and hybrids) plants. Without it they grow a large, lanky, woody base that can split open — it looks bad and shortens the plant's lifespan.