Lavender : to prune or not to prune ?

[STEPHINSD]

My little lavender doesn’t have any flower shoots and never really has (only a few) . It’s definitely getting leggy and bare at the base. But on the top there is plenty of healthy green leaves. Should I be pruning these back to encourage flowering? Not going into the woody stems of course. It’s taking off and growing at a weird angle so I’m having to contain it with posts so it’s definitely healthy and growing. Any advice? They are hidcote blue lavender. I definitely don’t want to kill this plant

 

[Oliver Buckle]

My experience is that lavender is always sold as 'Hidcote', and often isn't.
As to pruning, wait until flowering is finished, then prune. This gives it a chance to make fresh growth before winter. If it is getting leggy you can prune back hard, to the lowest shoot or bud, and it will come back. I always make cuttings from the prunings as well.

 

[STEPHINSD]

My experience is that lavender is always sold as 'Hidcote', and often isn't.
As to pruning, wait until flowering is finished, then prune. This gives it a chance to make fresh growth before winter. If it is getting leggy you can prune back hard, to the lowest shoot or bud, and it will come back. I always make cuttings from the prunings as well.

Thank you ! Every video I’ve watched is people cutting the flower shoots back. What about the leaves? That’s all my plant has

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Yes, leaves as well, you couldn't make a cutting from the flower shoots. Like I said you can go back quite hard, as long as there is something for it to grow from. Flowering in the UK usually finishes around the end of August, I would prune about mid August which should give it a couple of months to make new growth before winter.
I always tried to strike cuttings from prunings, about a fifty percent success rate without hormone rooting powder. it would be a lot higher with, but I had plenty and it is expensive stuff. I had sold/given away most, but still had two or three plants from cuttings I saved from pruning for customers. I took more cuttings from these, and then planted fourteen of them in a row along the edge of my veg. patch three years ago. Since then I have been running the hedge cutter along the row when the flowering finishes and they have now grown from about three inch rooted cuttings to about nine or ten inches tall and starting to join up into a hedge, should look nice this year.

 

[cpp gardener]

It looks like it’s in some shade. Lavender does best in full sun. To get it to stand up and bloom, you will need to move it to a sunnier location. Considering you are in San Diego (California I presume) you can shear it anytime.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Sorry, I must have misread somewhere, I thought the OP was in the UK.
Also, noticing your joining date, welcome to the forum.

 

[STEPHINSD]

It looks like it’s in some shade. Lavender does best in full sun. To get it to stand up and bloom, you will need to move it to a sunnier location. Considering you are in San Diego (California I presume) you can shear it anytime.

I was thinking the same thing but that’s the spot that gets the most sun yes I’m in San Diego CA so plenty of sunshine all year

 

[STEPHINSD]

Sorry, I must have misread somewhere, I thought the OP was in the UK.
Also, noticing your joining date, welcome to the forum.

Thank you !!! So much good info so far !