Question

silver anouk in a pot  

stems   Hi Darlene,

The flowers on my potted silver anouk has started pale and lose its colors, and a few days ago I noticed that the flower pedals have turned brown and crispy in some places. I've cut off the flowers at about 2" below the base of the flowers, but I'm afraid to go further. The rest of the plant looks healthy (there are even some buds still waiting to bloom), but most of the stems are pretty stiff. I've read lots on avoiding cutting too deep into the "woody" parts, but also that under pruning would cause the whole plant to turn woody. Basically, I'd like to know if I can/should go further and cut it back a bit more, or have I just made a catastrophic mistake in cutting them in the first place?

about its condition:
I have it on the sunny corner of a north/west facing balcony, so it gets full sun from mid afternoon onwards. When I brought it home in the beginning of the summer the base stem was propped up straight and clipped to a small aluminum rod for support. The potting mix looks like its made primarily out of wood chips. The afternoon sun this summer seem to dry up the pot really quickly (some days to the point where the excess water that drains through from watering will feel warm). So I've been watering it just before the sun hits everyday.

I've been having trouble finding specific care/pruning/propagating instructions for silver anouks...mostly information on normal english lavenders, but I wonder if they can be treated the same...

Thanks so much for any advice you can give me!

Best,
Sandy from Vancouver, B.C.

Answer
Betty,

Silver Anouk Lavender is usually just individual plants in the ground. What you have is a Silver Anouk Lavender Tree which is very unusual. I have never seen one nor can I find any lavender trees on the Internet. For regular silver anouk lavender you have done just fine. It should rebloom although it is getting late in the year. You did not say where you got this unusual plant, The soil it is planted in will not support it for long so I suspect they intend for it to live only long enough for it to bloom once. I suggest you go beck where you bought it for instructions.  Or you can try replanting it in 1 part of potting soil mixed with 1 part of sand and 1 part of perlite for a good drainage soil. It will not survive winter in your climate indoors nor will it survive outdoors. An attached garage that gets cold but does not freeze would be perfect. Although I do not know how a tree form will survive, lavender usually dies back to the ground during the winter and resprouts in the spring even in mild areas like zone 7.  Good luck with you plant.

Darlene