Thank you! I had read that lavender would not come back from hard pruning. Guess I was too conservative!

Lavender is an evergreen subshrub. And like many subshrubs, will not reliably sprout new growth if hard pruned back to just a woody interior. It also tends to be rather short lived in terms of maintaining a tidy, compact appearance under the best of growing conditions and even less likely to maintain a vibrant appearance in colder zones where it does experience significant winter dieback.

It is also a relatively inexpensive and fast growing plant so replacement with fresh stock is always an option. Commercial lavender farms - of which there are many in my area - routinely replace their plants on a 3-5 year rotation.

I agree with gardengal and floral. You can safely remove the now-dead grey stuff.

Only once did I hard-prune a seemingly dead favorite Lavendar and have it regrow from the base/root. I have to admit that I was quite surprised.

The middle of your plant is dead and probably will never grow. I also would suggest that you dig this one out and replant with a new one.

I think I would start over with a new plant. I think it would be hard to make this one look nice again.

OK, all. Lavender update (which I am SURE is at the top of your ‘want to know’ list.😜) Thank you for all of your help - I also contacted the Penn State Master Gardener center, which replied VERY quickly. Apparently, some varieties of lavender can live for up to 10 years. Of course, I did not keep THAT particular plant tag. I pruned out all of the dead and will harvest the perimeter flowers as usual. I usually get a second crop later in the season. Will see how the interior growth does in the interim. I agree - this one is never going to regain last year’s nice appearance, but I am not hosting the garden club anytime soon - or EVER - so I will give it a chance. If it is still scary looking by the end of our growing season, I will probably replace it. I will probably also rethink planting annuals with it, as they need more water than the lavender should have. I appreciate your help with my learning curve!

Now is a good time to take cuttings if you want some free backup plants.

Jordan, this was a "species" lavander, maybe Spanish, I don't remember exactly which one, but it was my favorite. One year all the top died so I cut it down to the ground/root. I didn't have time or the equipment with me to dig out the root and so left it. As I said, I was really surprised to see new growth coming from the root. It grew and was beautiful once again.

I do remember that it was one that liked it cooler and tolerated more shade.