Time for a trim

Our Lavender has been flowering for approaching three months now but all good things come to an end and it is time to cut it back.  By trimming each plant now should enable some growth to be put on before the Winter.  But a trim also makes the border look neat and tidy too creating a lovely arrangement of balls and bobbles.

All our Lavender was small when we planted it a year ago.  Just 1L and 2L pots.  All have more than quadrupled in size and are healthy and robust.

We have in excess of 200 Lavender plants in our main Lavender bed alone plus around 50 at the front of the house and a further 50 or so in the Lavender Walk.  In all we have some dozen or more varieties made up of Angustifolia and Intermedia's. 

Cutting each plant back and neatly shaping it took me all day and was truly back-breaking work.  Thankfully this is a task I only have to do once a year but the Lavender will benefit and look great through into Winter and beyond.

We have also been adding to our stock of plants by taking huge numbers of cuttings.  Asters, Penstemons, Verbena Bonariensis and Roses to name but a few, have all been donor plants and now massed ranks of pots containing plants grown from these cuttings line our nursery area and beyond.  They are also supplemented by our seed grown plants.

So although this may seem the end of Summer it is, to some extent, just the beginning of a new gardening year.