Skip to Content

Skip the Cuttings – Layering is the Easiest Way to Propagate Lavender

Photo collage of lavender and layered lavender stem

Lavender is one of those plants that nearly everyone has in their landscape or garden. And why not? It’s easy to maintain, the pollinators love it, and its classic scent is instantly recognizable. Not to mention, there are a myriad of ways to use it. Growing lavender is a no-brainer.

Once you figure out its likes and dislikes, you will find that it’s one of the more self-sufficient perennials to grow.

Garden with lavender bushes growing in it

But unlike other perennials in your garden, lavender won’t last forever.

Even with the best care and annual pruning, over time, lavender plants grow woody. With each passing year, the plant will put out less and less new growth as the stems become tougher from the crown outward. In the end, these woody plants put out fewer blossoms.

Hand showing the interior of a lavender plant

Eventually, you will need to replace the plant if you want to continue enjoying the beauty and fragrance of lavender in your landscape. This is easy enough to do. Just dig up the old one and replant it with a new plant.

However, depending on how many plants you have this can get spendy, not to mention time-consuming.

Lavender farm

Instead, you could do what many lavender farms do and propagate new plants straight off the older ones through a process called layering. This method of propagating has been done for ages. It allows you to grow innumerable new plants straight off of an older plant. You could easily fill your yard with lavender using a single plant.

And if you’re gardening on a dime, it’s a great way to grow as many lavender plants as you want, starting with a single plant. No stem cuttings required.

Why Not Do Stem Cuttings?

Stem cuttings are one of the most popular ways to propagate lavender and other softwood plants. The process is pretty simple and works well. You take cuttings of soft, new growth, put it in moist potting medium, keep it damp and let the cutting grow new roots. Once the plant is large enough, you can plant it where you would like it. (Lydia wrote up an entire guide on how to grow lavender from cuttings if you’re curious.)

But if you already have an established lavender plant, layering is easier. It yields more reliable results than stem cuttings, and doesn’t require the babysitting and extra work of propagating via cuttings.

Why?

Because you’re letting new plants grow on the old one. They get everything they need from the mother plant.  

How Layering Works

If you’ve ever grown tomatoes, you know that wherever the stems touch the soil, they will put out new roots. It turns out lavender will do the same with a bit of encouragement. To propagate a new plant, all you need to do is bury a portion of the lavender stem in the soil and wait. After a while, the buried portion of the stem will produce new roots, and new growth will form on that end of the stem. Eventually, you can cut this new plant from the mother plant and transplant it somewhere else.

How to Propagate Lavender Through Layering

Tools:

  • Gloves
  • A clean and sterile knife
  • Landscape pins or rocks

The Process

  • Choose a stem from the bottom of the main plant that is growing close to the ground. This should be a stem that is older and has woody growth.
Arrows pointing at potential stems good for layering
  • On the underside of the stem, several inches up from the base, gently scrape away a bit of the outer bark using a clean and sterile knife.
 Lavender stem scraped to reveal inner cambium.
  • You want to scrape it enough to expose the white beneath the outer layer of bark but not make any deep cuts. This stimulates the natural process of the plant’s ability to heal itself. In this case, because we will be burying this part of the stem, it will put out roots at that point.
  • Loosen the soil beneath the stem and press the stem into it. You don’t necessarily have to bury it; just be sure the scraped portion remains in contact with the dirt.
  • Use a landscape pin or a rock to hold the stem in place so it’s in constant contact with the soil.
Landscape pins holding down lavender stems
  • Wait patiently.

After several weeks, the bit of stem that is in contact with the soil will begin to put down roots. You may see new green growth along the stem above that portion before it puts down roots. This is a good sign that the stem is doing what it’s supposed to.

Red circles showing new growth on a stem

This new baby plant will continue to grow and develop slowly, so it’s best not to cut the new plant right away. Let it become established and overwinter attached to the mother plant. The following spring, you can cut this new plant from the parent plant, dig it up, and transplant it elsewhere.

When to Layer Lavender Stems?

Lavender plant with hori hori knife in the ground

Because the new plant stays actively attached to the parent plant, you can propagate lavender at any time during the active growing cycle. Spring to summer is best. Just remember, the earlier you start, the sturdier your propagated plant will be, and it will winter over well with less cold damage.

Replacing Old Woody Plants

Old, woody lavender stems

Layering lavender is the best way to replace old woody plants that are no longer producing enough flowers. You can propagate one or two new plants right off of the old parent plant. Then, the following spring, once you make the cut to separate the new plant from the parent plant, you can dig up the old woody plant, leaving the new ones to grow in its place.

Layering lavender is easy and a great way to grow large, bushy plants filled with fragrant blooms perpetually. Rather than replacing your plants every few years, you can grow generation after generation all from one starter plant.


Get the famous Rural Sprout newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Including Sunday musings from our editor, Tracey, as well as “What’s Up Wednesday” our roundup of what’s in season and new article updates and alerts.

We respect your email privacy


Tracey Besemer

Hey there, my name is Tracey. I’m the editor-in-chief here at Rural Sprout.

Many of our readers already know me from our popular Sunday newsletters. (You are signed up for our newsletters, right?) Each Sunday, I send a friendly missive from my neck of the woods in Pennsylvania. It’s a bit like sitting on the front porch with a friend, discussing our gardens over a cup of tea.

Originally from upstate NY, I’m now an honorary Pennsylvanian, having lived here for the past 18 years.

I grew up spending weekends on my dad’s off-the-grid homestead, where I spent much of my childhood roaming the woods and getting my hands dirty.

I learned how to do things most little kids haven’t done in over a century.

Whether it was pressing apples in the fall for homemade cider, trudging through the early spring snows of upstate NY to tap trees for maple syrup, or canning everything that grew in the garden in the summer - there were always new adventures with each season.

As an adult, I continue to draw on the skills I learned as a kid. I love my Wi-Fi and knowing pizza is only a phone call away. And I’m okay with never revisiting the adventure that is using an outhouse in the middle of January.

These days, I tend to be almost a homesteader.

I take an eclectic approach to homesteading, utilizing modern convenience where I want and choosing the rustic ways of my childhood as they suit me.

I’m a firm believer in self-sufficiency, no matter where you live, and the power and pride that comes from doing something for yourself.

I’ve always had a garden, even when the only space available was the roof of my apartment building. I’ve been knitting since age seven, and I spin and dye my own wool as well. If you can ferment it, it’s probably in my pantry or on my kitchen counter. And I can’t go more than a few days without a trip into the woods looking for mushrooms, edible plants, or the sound of the wind in the trees.

You can follow my personal (crazy) homesteading adventures on Almost a Homesteader and Instagram as @aahomesteader.

Peace, love, and dirt under your nails,

Tracey
[simple-author-box]