Well,I suppose it could have been much, much worse, considering this winter. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I prune away the dead parts of each plant. Because each plant has winter die back. It ranges from 30 percent to, well, 90 percent.
So, here are some pictures. These were taken a couple of weeks ago.
Here is a row of the Croxton's Wild. The entire east side greened up, about another quarter on the western side greened up in the last week, but the Croxton's are also budding where it is green so last night I cut away the remaining gray stems, to make room for the new growth coming on underneath.
When I am completely done pruning, I will take a picture of the giant pile of gray lavender fluff on the compost
so you get an idea how much I've had to cut away. I'm not sure if the western half of the plants didn't come back from wind burn or what. I'm still not as aggressive of a pruner as I should be, and this will force me into a corner.
Of course it is the Croxton's that are doing the best. My least favorite variety. My Marge Clarks, my favorite variety are among those doing the worst. But, at least they are not dead. Like the Lavandins.
Every single one.
The Abriallis, the Dilly-Dillys, the Seals, all bought on a 6 hour round trip to Hartford City, are all dead. I don't think it was the winter that killed them but the long cold, wet spring. They just couldn't outlast it. neither could my remaining surviving lavenders from Asheville. Kaput.
All plants are gray and dead looking in the spring but the difference is the leaves. See how this Lavandin's leaves are all turned down? Like a miniature maudlin weeping willow? Dead. As compared to this plant that has some greening up to do.
But that plant is not a good example, because it never greened up and after removing all the winter dieback, it looked like this.
This is a drastic example. The only other ones this bad are the hidcote giants, and I'll post about them later.
Here is a better example of the type of pruning I'm doing. Before:
And after:
As pruning and blooming progresses, I'll post more.
When I am completely done pruning, I will take a picture of the giant pile of gray lavender fluff on the compost
so you get an idea how much I've had to cut away. I'm not sure if the western half of the plants didn't come back from wind burn or what. I'm still not as aggressive of a pruner as I should be, and this will force me into a corner.
Of course it is the Croxton's that are doing the best. My least favorite variety. My Marge Clarks, my favorite variety are among those doing the worst. But, at least they are not dead. Like the Lavandins.
Every single one.
The Abriallis, the Dilly-Dillys, the Seals, all bought on a 6 hour round trip to Hartford City, are all dead. I don't think it was the winter that killed them but the long cold, wet spring. They just couldn't outlast it. neither could my remaining surviving lavenders from Asheville. Kaput.
All plants are gray and dead looking in the spring but the difference is the leaves. See how this Lavandin's leaves are all turned down? Like a miniature maudlin weeping willow? Dead. As compared to this plant that has some greening up to do.
But that plant is not a good example, because it never greened up and after removing all the winter dieback, it looked like this.
This is a drastic example. The only other ones this bad are the hidcote giants, and I'll post about them later.
Here is a better example of the type of pruning I'm doing. Before:
And after:
As pruning and blooming progresses, I'll post more.
