Why has my lavender gone woody, and can I save it?
Why lavender splits open and goes bare at the base, whether an old plant can be renovated, and the twice-yearly cut that prevents it entirely.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Lavender goes woody because it was not cut back hard enough each year. It will not reshoot from bare old wood, so a split, leggy plant usually cannot be saved — replace it, and cut the new one back by about a third every August so it never gets there.
Lavender is a short-lived Mediterranean subshrub. Even well pruned it is usually replaced after eight to ten years, and unpruned it becomes an open woody sprawl in half that.
What you'll need
- Shears or secateurs
- Gloves
Step by step
- Check for green shoots on the old wood.Scrape a bare stem with a thumbnail. Green under the bark and any small shoots low down means there is something to cut back to. Bare grey wood with no growth points will not regenerate.
- Accept when a plant is finished.A lavender that has split open at the centre with bare wood at the base and growth only at the tips is generally beyond renovation. Lavender does not reshoot from old wood the way many shrubs do.
- Take cuttings before you remove it.Semi-ripe cuttings in late summer root easily and give free replacements that are identical to the plant you liked.
- Prune the replacement properly from year one.After flowering, in August, cut the whole plant back by about a third, shaping it into a dome and always leaving green growth on every shoot.
- Never cut into bare wood.The single rule with lavender. Cut where there are leaves; below that the stem will not produce new shoots.
- Give it a light tidy in spring if needed.A gentle trim in April to remove winter scruffiness and reshape. The main cut remains the August one.
- Get the growing conditions right.Full sun, poor free-draining soil, no rich feeding and no mulch against the stems. Lavender in damp, rich ground grows fast, soft and floppy and goes woody sooner.
- Attempt a staged renovation only on a plant with low green growth.Where there is still green low down, cut a third of the stems hard in one year and the rest over the following two. Success is uncertain and often it is quicker to replace.
- Choose the right species.English lavender is hardy and takes hard annual pruning. French and Spanish lavenders are less hardy and are trimmed more lightly after their first flush.
Tips
- Cut in August after flowering, by about a third, always leaving green.
- Lavender does not reshoot from bare wood. That single fact explains everything else.
- Take cuttings in late summer — they root very easily and cost nothing.
Common mistakes
- Only deadheading the flower stalks — It leaves the plant growing taller and barer from a woody base every year. The cut has to take a third of the plant, not just the spent flowers.
- Feeding and mulching lavender richly — It produces soft lush growth that flops, flowers less and dies out in the middle. Lavender wants poor, sharply drained soil and no coddling.
If it doesn't work
Split open in the middle, bare wood
Cause: Years of insufficient pruning — Fix: Take cuttings and replace. Renovation from bare wood almost never works.
Leggy but green low down
Cause: Under-pruned but not yet finished — Fix: Staged renovation over two or three years, cutting a third hard at a time, always into green.
Floppy soft growth, few flowers
Cause: Soil too rich or too wet — Fix: Stop feeding, remove mulch from around the stems, and improve drainage with grit.
Dead patches after a wet winter
Cause: Waterlogging rather than cold — Fix: Lavender tolerates cold far better than wet. Plant on a slope, on a ridge, or in a raised gravel bed.
Questions people ask
Can I cut lavender back hard to rejuvenate it?
Only into growth that still has leaves on it. Cut into bare grey wood and that stem dies. This is why old woody lavender is usually replaced rather than renovated.
When should I prune lavender?
Straight after flowering, around August, taking off about a third of the plant and shaping it into a dome. A light tidy in April is optional.
How long does lavender live?
Well pruned, eight to ten years in a UK garden. Unpruned, three or four before it splits open and looks past it.