Needs doing twice a year - you can't cut into old wood on Lavenders, they won't tolerate it, so usual practice is to trim over after first flush of flowers is over, usually June here in London, then again in August, taking about an inch of foliage at the same time.

so take off the flower and an inch of the stem?

No, cut the FOLIAGE by an inch - that means the length of the flower stem plus some leaves at the base.

Apologies, just remembered that capitals means you're shouting - if only I could work out how to do bold or italics on here...

thanks

Bamboo, it's ok to shout and let out your frustrations sometimes, especially on damp rainy days! Phil J

Oh dear, I wasn't frustrated at all, Philjeffs, other than by my total inability to work out how to get bold and italics on here - the Word methods don't work, I've tried. I was simply trying to emphasise the word, not shout it in frustration, lol!