How to trim lavender topiaries to keep them beautiful

Oh those little potted lavender topiaries are such charmers aren’t they? Planted in little pots and lined up on the table or simply tucked anywhere you want a little bit of whimsy and charm. I adore them and I know so many of you do too. And every time I share them- I get a lot of questions about how to keep them looking good. Aka- when they get a bit wild and crazy- what do you do to make them beautiful again. I gave our topiaries a trim last weekend and so, today, sharing a bit more about how to do that.

Lovely Lavender Toparies

They really are so sweet and charming just as they are. Even when they get a few wild hairs and look a bit messy. But if you want repeat blooming and to keep a tidy little shape, they need to be trimmed.

When to Trim

When the lavender blooms are done blooming and spent – that is the time to trim.

Some folks trim heavily but I like to trim one by one to make sure any new buds that are forming stay as the new buds can be pretty tiny when starting out. They are those little white nubs on the lavender below.

How To Trim

I simply clip the spent bloom off at the foliage and keep doing that until all the spent blooms are trimmed off. If you have some sections that are dangling you can simply clip them off to clean up the shape. At the same time, you can simply clip off or clip part of some of the branches to shape the lavender to be round or oval, etc. I usually clip it right above the leaf area. I trimmed some of the blooms that were winding down but had a bit of pretty purple yet- mainly because there were a lot of new buds forming and I wanted to clean the topiaries up. You can always wait until they all dry out and turn brown before trimming if you prefer.

After trimming, the new buds will take off and start to grow giving you another flush of pretty lavender flowers on the topiaries. To note though that not all lavender blooms again- some are spring/summer bloomers and that is it so depending on what type you have- something to be aware of.