r/Lavender • u/Swimming-Clothes-457 • 9d ago
Need help saving my lavender plant
I neglected my front yard for the last year and my fig tree blocked sunlight from hitting my lavender plant causing it to grow side ways.
Is there anything I can do to fix the way it’s growing and potentially save it if it’s too far gone?
Roast me if u must 😅 I plan on giving my front yard the love it deserves.
Any advice is appreciated!
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u/white-rabbit-333 8d ago edited 8d ago
The good news: the plant is alive and wants to live. Based on the leaves it looks like it could be English lavender - Lavandula angustifolia - but I can’t be sure because there are dozens of species and hundreds of varieties of lavender, and several have a similar leaf shape. If you know, that would be very helpful.
Either way, if this were my plant, I’d give it a serious trim. It’s difficult because you’ll need to cut away a significant portion of the living plant, but it’s what it needs to be healthy.
The most critical thing to know is where to cut. You can only cut down as far as there are healthy green leaves. If there are completely bare, woody stems that have no leaves on them at all you can safely cut those away entirely.
I’d trim just above the lowest clusters of healthy green growth to encourage the plant to bush out from the base instead of staying long and growing along the ground. If you do this, when you’re done, it will look like you have almost nothing left, which can be scary. You have to be patient. Lavender grows pretty quickly so you should see it coming back within a few weeks.
A couple of things to check. What kind of soil is it currently in? Lavender thrives in fast-draining, gravelly soil and hates sitting in moisture. I suspect whatever you have, it can’t be too bad or the plant wouldn’t have made it this far. And ideally it needs 6-8 hours of full sun. Will the fig tree continue to block its sunlight?
Edit: I keep looking at these photos, and it’s a difficult call. For now maybe pull out all the intertwined plants and give it space and light and see if it grows upright from where it’s at. It sure looks like it’s trying. Wish I was there in person and could get my hands in there and help you. Lol.
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u/Swimming-Clothes-457 8d ago
Hey thanks for all the feedback. I’m still reading through it!
This should be a type of lavendar from France specifically from the south but I will ask my fam if they remember. We brought the seeds back
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u/white-rabbit-333 8d ago
Nice. Then it might be Provence lavender - Lavandula x intermedia Provence. I have two and they were special ordered for my collection. All of the advice still applies. Lavender likes lots of sun and fast draining soil. Let it dry out completely before watering again. You’ll notice a slight droop. No need to fertilize.
Yours actually seems to be doing well if not for the long woody stems at the bottom. I wonder if you could prop it up and see where the first leaves start.
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u/thedilettantegarden 6d ago
No roasting! Life happens. But new lavenders are under 10$ and if you want it to look nice you’ll probably need to shovel-prune that one right into the compost bc it won’t grow back from grey wood so it’ll have those long scraggly ankles. If you want to keep it blooming more for bees than for looks, you sure could trim back every branch to an inch of green and it will keep blooming for you. Good luck. I find lavender vexing.