Lavender

This is something I have never done before but yesterday I was called to work unexpectedly and while I was there sorting a few things out I decided to try my hand at trimming the lavender. A first for me and the reason I did it was the hope, that once trimmed it might flower for a second time this year.
I love these lavenders. They were part of the established garden when we moved into this building. Sturdy plants with great scent, masses of dark purple flowers and they flower for a long period. They are one of the first plants to flower after Spring and attract masses of bees into the garden. And this year it seemed like there were more bees than usual.

this is the result after using my pruning shears,leaving as much of the new growth on as possible



Part of the joy in gardening is not only the flowers that grow but the winged wildlife they attract, which I love taking pics of. Now that the lavender has finished the bees still find their way into the garden. From the lavender they’ve moved on to the alliums and now that the last of the alliums have finished it’s the Echinacea and Rudbeckias that have drawn their attention.

The result after trimming
As it’s the first time I have done any trimming or pruning on this kind of scale I’ve kept myself in check and reduced my efforts to one plant. (Okay I might as well admit it, I was kind of scared I’d do more damage than good and I want to find out if it does produce a second flush of flowers before I tackle the other lavenders). They have already been pruned earlier this year by the gardeners who visit every two months and been clipped back to a nice compact shape at the end of the winter. However I have no faith in my skills as a plant barber so I decided to stay cautious and just cut back the flower stalks that have finished.

Already you can see there is new growth that has started to shoot flower buds so I left those on as well as the stalks that still have flowers on them. It might make the plant look a little unkempt but they still attract bees. I know the plant will survive, if anything the resilience plants have never ceases to amaze me.

My Garden on Saturday

After weeks of teasing the Rudbeckia's are now a mass of flowers. The Echinaccea (coneflowers) and Liatris are looking spectacular. And now the alliums have finished flowering the bees have moved on to them.