08/06/2026
The 8:8:8 rule is a cute way to remember it, prune to 8 inches on the 8th day of the 8th month, but the date matters far less than the two things it’s actually reminding you to do. First, get in there once flowering winds down, while the soil’s still warm enough for the plant to push out fresh growth before the cold. Skip it and lavender does what lavender does: goes woody at the heart, faster every year, throwing fewer and fewer blooms until the whole thing looks bedraggled and sad. Second, and this is the one that trips people up, there’s a hard line you must not cut past, because slice into the old wood and that section is done, it will not regrow. There’s a simple way to see exactly where that line sits before you make a single cut. It’s all in the first comment.
