So I decided to try my hand with lavender this year. After reading up on lavender trpes and hardiness, I decided on Munstead lavender due to the hardiness in my area, it's size (I will be growing it along my front flower beds), and the descriptions of it's scent and colour compared to others.

I purchased two plants for this year as starters, and have been taking cuttings from them to grow inside over the winter, with plans to plant these cutting out in the spring. The two starters have grown fairly well, but with no flowers. I worried a bit about this but due to the lateness in the season that I planted them, and some comments I have seen on various sites, I don't believe it's unusual for new plants to not flower in the first year. Crossing my fingers thet's true. Of course, I have been taking multiple cuttings from them, so I'm sure that's not helping.

Now to the cuttings. The majority of sites which said to plant the cutting directly into the growing medium. Some said sand, some said potting medium. I tried both with no luck at all. Most sites said that rooting in water wouldn't work for lavender. After my frustrating attempts to root them in a growing medium, I finally resorted to my old "rooting in water" method. Success! In fact, it's been 100% success so far. I have 16 cutting now transplanted from water to potting soil and they are thriving, and 16 more cuttings rooting in water right now.

On to an interesting observation and a question. I generally took a cutting about 8 inches long and cut it in half, giving me two 4 inch cuttings. The cuttings from the tip of the plant are growing upward in a single stalk? shoot? (not sure what the correct term is) while the cuttings from the middle of the plant are growing multiple shoots from the side, resulting in a bushier plant. I suspect this is the same effect as one gets from pinching out the growing tips of basil. It result in activating the side shoot to grow. I also noticed this effect in my starter plants. They got very bushy from all my clipping.

Since I desire the bushier plants, should I prune once or twice in the first year? Some sites say not to prune at all in the first year.

Any and all comments or personal experiences are welcome and appreciated.