Lavender plants need to be pruned if gardeners plan on keeping them in their garden for a long time.

Pruning a lavender plant will prolong its life, maintain an attractive shape and ensure plenty of flowers the following year.

Unpruned lavender plants can quickly become straggly and leggy, liable to sprawl and open up to reveal unsightly gnarled-looking branches that bear few flowers.

Once this stage is reached they can be very difficult to rejuvenate as they seldom respond to very hard pruning.

English lavender is the most common type and the most long-lived - keeping up to 25 years with care.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, gardening expert and director of Seed Barn Shane Dibbs has shared the “correct method of pruning lavender” and the “best time” to do so.

He warned: “Without proper pruning, lavender can become woody and cumbersome, so to keep plants compact and attractive, it’s best to trim them yearly.”

The expert added: “It’s best to prune plants yearly, focusing on pruning as soon as the flowers begin to fade. 

“An ideal time to do this is August into September after the plant has finished blooming. This allows the plant to recover before the winter and encourages fuller growth in the following year.”

Never cut back all the way to the new leaves - or don’t prune to the woody base - since your plant will not grow and bloom from old wood.

Prune lavender into a mound shape, wider at the base, to allow for even light distribution and proper airflow.

This also helps in shedding water away from the centre of the plant, therefore “reducing the chance of rot”.

Shane claimed that regular pruning not only keeps your lavender plant “looking its best”, but also helps improve air circulation and helps prevent diseases like root rot and fungal infections.

Make sure not to prune lavender past mid-autumn, or you could end up with new growths that will “break and die” during winter, weakening your lavender plants.