Alan Titchmarsh shares essential lavender task you 'must' do or risk 'very few flowers'

Gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh has shared an essential task for lavender plants that if you fail to do, you risk having "very few flowers". Alan stated that the one plant gardeners shouldn't be without this summer is lavender.

He highlighted their versatility, as they can be grown as neat edgings along a path, around flower beds, or paired with perennials near the front of a border. The gardening guru pointed out that lavender "looks fabulous" with alliums, particularly the large, purple, drumstick variety that are at their peak now.

Lavenders aren't just aesthetically pleasing and fragrant, they're also practical. You can cut the flowers for indoor decoration, dry them and rub off the individual florets to use as potpourri. But while lavender plants are "easy to grow", they "need the right growing conditions" and care, Alan said, and one specific task owners need to undertake is pruning, reports the Express.

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He said: "Lavenders aren't difficult plants to look after, but you must prune them. An unkempt lavender soon turns from a neat, busy youngster into a straggly geriatric with bare, arthritic woody stems, stunted bunches of foliage and very few flowers."

The gardener elaborated that pruning serves as an "annual rejuvenation treatment" that "prolongs life to keep lavender looming, besides keeping them in shape for better blooms".

Gardeners must tailor their approach when pruning different types of lavender and recognise the optimal time for this task. The best period to prune lavender is typically late summer or early autumn, coinciding with the end of its flowering phase. However, if necessary, pruning can be done at other times throughout the year.

Alan explained that traditional English lavender and its hybrids, which bloom with long flower spikes in June and July, should receive a gentle trim immediately after floweringavoid cutting into the old wood as much as possible.

Lavandula stoechas varieties, which begin blooming in May, require consistent deadheading. This involves removing each spent flower along with a short stem promptly after they fade, while leaving the rest of the plant intact. By doing so, "they'll keep flowering in dribs and drabs throughout the summer" and into the early autumn.

It's important to note that lavender plants are not resilient to severe pruning. Generally, it's advisable to trim back about one-third to half of the plant's current size. Cutting back more than two-thirds can hinder the plant's recovery.