LAVENDER PRUNING OR CUTTING BACK

The recommended time is just as it finishes flowering. Remove each flowering spike, cutting back hard to a new shoot but don't cut into the old wood. Left unpruned makes no difference to flowering but the plant quickly becomes straggly and woody at the base

I tend towards deadheading and a light clip after flowering, then a cut-back to new shoots in the spring. This seems to help protect the shoots from frost.

I leave ours through the winter as the birds seem very keen on the seeds and then cut back in the spring.