enchanted green: my herb garden

Lavender

More Fine Art Photography & Digital Art from the Garden

May 2005

Lavender plants in my yard are in full bloom and happy to report as lovely as ever. The little volunteer plant got off to a shaky start this season, probably due to all the rain we got (lavender plants to NOT like to be soggy!) but I think it's doing much better now. The other plant is so established, it hardly blinked. This year, I have added some new recipes using lavender on my site, as well as some affiliates that sell potted herbs, so this month's entry is going to be about cooking with lavender and growing lavender in a container. Lavender is a member of the mint family and is best combined with fennel, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, and savory. Lavender has a sweet, floral flavor, with lemony, citrus notes that are quite distinct. The potency of the lavender flowers increases with drying, wo when cooking with lavender, use 1/3 the quantity of dried flowers compared to what you would use fresh. English Lavender is most commonly used for cooking: Lavender flowers can add a touch of color to salads or dessert custards, and the spikes and leaves can be used in place of rosemary in many recipes. Just don't use lavender for cooking unless you sure it's pesticide free, which means either grow it yourself, make sure it's labeled organic, and is meant for culinary use. If you are gorwing lavender in a container, make sure it's the right size. Lavender is a Mediterranean herb, and deals well with tight root spaces in well drained soil, so it can work in containers, but the root ball is usually much larger than the plant itself so choose a container about an inch or two larger than the rootball. Too much soil and few roots can cause excessive wetness to linger in the soil, which is death to lavender, which hates being soggy as I said before. Unlike other herbs in pots which will do well with 4-6 hours of sun, lavender plants in containers need as much sun as lavender planted in the garden, which is about 8 hours a day. Think HOT and DRY. Not cactus dry like never water it, but let it dry out before watering it again, and keep winter watering to a minimum. Potted lavender will want to be repotted every year, and like all container plants, will deplete the nutrition from the soil more quickly than plants planted out in the garden. So add a bit of fertilizer when you repot it (like
Herbs Alive!™ which is what I use for fertilizing herbs) and it'll be good to go for another year. Just prune lightly in the spring and clean it up at the end of the summer when it starts to look a little twiggy, and that's pretty much all the attention it needs.

Lavender Topiary Fragrant and handsome Lavender topiary! Relax and enjoy this most sought after fragrance.

herbes de provence growing kit This savory combination of herbs originated in the French region of Provence and is recognized as a classic ingredient in traditional French cooking. Includes soil and seeds for each herb (lavender, marjoram, fennel and sage), galvanized pots, watering can, tray and greenhouse More Potted Herb Plants

Passion for Purple™ Gift Set

June 2004

All is well in La-La Lavenderland. The lavender in the pot kind of died off and is now host to some sage which is doing rather nicely there. but a volunteer of the Spanish Lavender probably courtesy of the second lavender plant on the other side of the yard, sprung up to replace that in another section of the yard, so as always, nature remains in balance, and I still have two lavender plants growing here. I am so excited also to be able to offer Products for the Home now via this web site thanks to Gaiam and the like finally having affiliate programs. I have been an avid Whole Foods shopper for years (and Wild Oats) and it is inpsiring to me to be able to take my belief in organic sustainable development , combine it with a love for the fabulous scent of these herbs, then share all of that with you, who might not be as lucky as I am to have these stores nearby. thanks to the beauty of the Internet, that doesn't matter anymore. So some of my favorites are below, after which you'll find previous updates to what went on in this section of the garden prior to this year. Also, for DIY crafters trying to figure out what to do with all that lavender from your garden, here are instructions on how to make a Sinus Headache Pillow , make your own incense, make your own potpourri, or throw a Lavender-Themed Craft Party.

March 2002

Both lavenders are flourishing and just beginning to flower! The eucalyptus trees have been trimmed by a professional eco tree trimmer--a guy who used to maintain the forest for Tree People in LA--so we knew these wonderful trees were in good and caring hands. They and the 2 palms on the property are also happy with their new svelte figures

2001

I have two lavender plants growing in my yard. One is in a raised bed, the other is in a pot. The one in the pot was a rescue from a neighbor who didn't really have a place where the plant got enough sun. As it had been there for a while, it wasn't looking particularly happy. The other plant, the one in the ground, seems to be doing just fine, even though it doesn't get as much sun where it is as I would like given an ideal situation, which I don't have. (Huge eucalyptus trees block light to that bed, and they are too majestic, as well as tall to hack away at too much in terms of cutting branches back) But so far, the plant seems to be adapting. It is the sunniest spot of that bed, and now that the overall watering issues with that bed have been worked out with the purchase of a water meter, should be smooth sailing from here on out.As for how to use lavender, well, this beautiful herb has many uses, culinary, cosmetic and medicinal. Lavender was used in earlier days as a condiment and for flavouring dishes 'to comfort the stomach.' Though largely used in perfumery, it is now not much employed internally, except as a flavouring agent, occurring occasionally in pharmacy to cover disagreeable odors in ointments and other compounds.Today, it is used as an infusion, decoction and bath additive. It is an effective herb for headaches, especially when they are related to stress. The volatile or essential oil of lavender contains many medicinal components, including perillyl alcohol, linalool, and geraniol. The oil is calming and thus can be helpful in some cases of insomnia. A lavender bath before bedtime is soothing to rheumatism and sleeep-inducing. A tea brewed from Lavender tops, made in moderate strength, is excellent to relieve headache from fatigue and exhaustion, giving the same relief as the application of Lavender water to the temples.

Natural Pest &
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Herbs Alive!™
Produces bigger yield, bigger flavor! Natural food with just the right balance of nutrients for lush, full foliage growth without sacrificing robust flavor. 1 lb bag.

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