Lavatera Pruning

[Lucy]

Hi,

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do with my Lavatera?

It is a mature shrub, which now has quite a long woody stem and is tipping over with it's own weight. There are branches off this main stem but quite high up.

The plant is clearly not happy and hasn't been for a while - it hasn't really flowered and the leaves look tired and small. I'm not sure what to do, as all the advice I've seen says to prune back hard. But how hard is this? If I pruned back to a foot or so above ground level it would just mean chopping the main stem, so it would be like a stick coming out of the ground!

Help?!

THanks
Lucy

[gardening_guru]

Hello Lucy,

Yes, prune the Lavatera hard back. Early Spring is a good time of year to do it. Just prune every shoot down to the last visible leaves at the base. It will respond very well to such vigorous pruning and produce loads of flowers.

Usually grown as a shrub it should not really have a main dominant stem, unless of course you want it to look like a tree?

For more detailed information on pruning Lavatera and their general care, please see our blog entry on: Lavatera Pruning, Care and Growing Tips

[Lucy]

Thanks for that - just to clarify tho ...
there are a few little shoots right at the bottom coming out of the ground, then the one main woody stem with branches coming off it. Should I cut this right down to the base?
Thank you!
Lucy

[gardening_guru]

Yes Lucy,

Cut that main stem right down preferably to where you can see leaves at it's base or dormant buds. Doing this will encourage those other little shoots to have their say because the plant's energy will not necessarily be with that leading shoot any more, but more equally distributed.

[paulakemp]

would it be too late to prune my lavatera now??