Close on hard cuts

Lavender in subtle decline

Two stems at the left are one year old, or less. Those in the middle grew from sprouts and had time to branch so are at least a year old. The far right stem has been growing for two or more years. Al are from the same plants, grown in a humid continental climate where they develop diseases of the wood.

Enlarged images of cut-back sage.

We know it's hard to see the remnants of the sage here but that's the way of things in spring after cut-back. What we leave as nearly invisible is budded up nicely in two to three weeks, and is lush by mid-summer bloom time. Or it proved to be too weak to make a comeback and we've replaced it with something more suitable, or another of its kind after first correcting the situation that weakened its predecessor.