You can't rejuvenate a lavender that has been allowed to develop a very woody center. Best just to discard the plant and start over. This is what local lavender farms do (and there are a LOT here!), even though they do prune back routinely at least twice a season. Generally, the plants are replaced on a 3-5 year schedule, depending on variety

"Is it possible to take a short cut to dig up the Lavendar and replant it deep by burying the woody bottom."

Pretty much guaranteed to kill the plant...sorry.

Thanks. So Lavender is a high maintenance herb and need to be replaced every few years. So how do farm start new larvender, by seeds or cutting from old plants.

Since Larvender is a high maintenance plant, I am thinking of yanking it out and replace with similar looking Rosemary which grow slower and can take hard prunning.

Not high maintenance at all!! No more than any other perennial that needs to be cut back annually. You just need to start cutting back properly twice a season (lightly in fall after bloom cycle: harder in spring to form dense, compact plants with multiple bloom stalks) the same season as planted. And that can't be overlooked!

The biannual shearing or pruning does not prevent the woody interior from forming....that is inevitable. But it does slow down its development and makes it much less visible. And helps to prevent the splaying or falling open (exposing the woody interior) that unpruned lavender always develops and makes it look bad.

If maintained in this manner, you can have a handsome and productive lavender for many years. Skip a year and the difference will be obvious :-)

I agree with all that gardengal has said. I would add that Rosemary has to be watched over and pruned the same as the Lanvander or it gets woody and ratty looking too. (which reminds me: I need to hand prune the Rosemary out by the mail box.)

Is it OK to hard prune Lavender to the ground and let it spout new stems next year. I've done it to my over grown hydrangea and it recovers bushly next year. The one-third pruning over three years to rejuvenate an over grown lavender is too long a wait for me.

i have actually had a Lavender send up sprouts from a stump... I thnk it was Spanish Lavender.... but that was totally unexpected. You could try it and see what happens.

No, you cannot safely prune an overgrown lavender to the ground and expect it to regenerate. Like many woody subshrubs, cutting back to bare wood is not advised and liable to kill the plant.

And pruning back by a third - or rejuvenation pruning - doesn't work either. I'm not sure where that idea came from but it does not apply to lavender! You can't rejuvenate an old, overgrown lavender.....you either live with it the way it is or replace with a new plant.

If the lavender is that overgrown it is easiest just get rid of it and replant. Otherwise, follow annual pruning methods by a light trim in fall to remove all the old flower stalks and just a short length of foliage and then a tighter trim in spring as the new growth emerges. Just don't cut back into bare wood!

So Lavender behaves like Juniper. It generates new growth in the outer shell with bare wood inside. Lacking interior growth buds, an over grown lavender cannot be reduced in size or rejuvenated from bare wood. Like Juniper, the only option is to yank out over grown Lavender and replace with new one.

Lavender offers blue foliage and lavender flowers few perrenial can offer, but regretfully, Lavender is not as permanent as daylily, hostas, cone flower, black eye susan, etc that will never need to be replaced.