Rescued Lavender help plz

I have rescued an unwanted lavender bush in a tub. If you look at the top 8" its healthy and happy but below that its all leggy and woody :(.. Was it pointless trying to save it or can it be recovered? The top part is healthy and green. When do I prune it and to where? I can post a photo if thats easier..
Thank you, Kat

 

Hi Katweazle ( great name),

You can't prune lavender into old wood-it just doesn't work, the best you can get from it is if you can somehow disguise those woody stems behind something, maybe plunge it tub and all into a bare patch of a border.

You could also strip it for cuttings, they would take quite well now at this time of year.

 

You can plant Lavender deeper so that the bare wood is actually in the ground, and new roots will then form out of the bare wood. According to my propagation book you can also bank it up with co@rse sand, keep the sand moist, then by the following spring time roots should have formed in there, so you then carefully shake off the sand, cut the plant up and replant the newly rooted branches.

 

Right, thank you both:gnthb: I shall allocate it a new place to live and get it some sand!

 

Great tip. I have lavender in a container to fill a gap. I always just buy new every year because of the woodiness. Do you earth/sand it up in the autumn Clueless?

 

Tried planting deeper it just doesn't work for me but on the other taking cuttings works incredibly well at least for me.

With lavender you have to be brutal in the first year and that's where some people fail you have to cut it back hard so in the following year you haven't got woody old growth but new young shoots, keep clipping back each year after flowering but not so much that it goes into 'old wood' and you will be rewarded with a nice compact plant that should last you a great many years.Hel.xxx.

 

I've never tried it myself, I read it in my propagation book, which is at home and I'm at work. I'll have a look when I get home and tell you what it says.

 

Lavender cuttings grow slowly, but if you plan ahead are worth it. I took a few 2 years ago and they will bloom for the first time shortly. Next year they should be a good size, enough to plant out in the garden.

I just shoved a few trimmings taken after the finished flowering in a pot of compost and left them outside; out of 5 or 6, 2 rooted. So doing it properly might get a better result!

 

I think they are much quicker when you do it the banked up sand way, as it is a variation on layering. The cuttings suffer far less trauma, as they are fed by the main root system while they are developing their own.