Herbs: Lavender in bloom! What are you doing with yours?, 1 by Potagere

Potagere wrote:
I have this hedge, in its 3rd year, which is a mix of L. intermedia 'Grosso' and L. angustifolia 'Hidcote Blue'. This is about 1/2 of it because I can't get it all in the photo. At one end is a sole "white lavender", which, unfortunately, is done blooming. In retrospect, I wish we had ised only the 'Grosso', because it stands up straighter, whereas 'Hidcote Blue' tends to 'slump', especially with all the rain we have had since it started to bloom. Way over on the far end, next to the white lavender, is a 'Grosso' that moved here in a pot with us 4 summers ago. By the time I went to unpot it and plant it properly, it was so well rooted that I had to leave it. Now, the interesting thing about this one is that, probably because the part of the roots still in the plastic pot get heated more quickly, is that it is the first to bloom each year! I should trim it and the white one and we'll get a guaranteed 2nd bloom. In fact, if we actually DO harvest the lavender, we always get a 2nd bloom. But, 1 harvest is gigantic!!!

We also have several L. stoechas ("Butterfly Lavender) scattered around the garden, including really nice white and pink ones that I got as rooted cuttings from Vernon's Geranium Nursery this Spring. They are both cute as can be, although the slugs decided to breakfast on the pink one, so it's just getting along.

Most of out lavender is never harvested because it is in among the roses to deter aphids. Seems to work for that, but the whitefly ignore it!

At this time of year, I send my wife into her office laden with "bouquets" made up of about 25 stems tied with lavender ribbons to distribute among her colleagues, and it seems to be an annual hit! We have baskets and Thai bowls and Cambodian enamelware all over the house with lavender in them. We put clusters of stems in the linen drawers. We give masses of it away, usually in baskets because neither of us is very 'crafty'. We make (and give away) lavender-flavoured vinegar. I use it on the grill when roasting lamb or chicken; sometimes in stews. The 'Grosso' is good for this kind of cookery, critter, because it's real close to rosemary.

I'm not going to get to Upstate New York (or Maine) for a lavender cooking class, as you know herbalbetty, so are there seeds you'll swap for your lavender cookie recipe?

~ 3gardeners, if you can put it in the garage in the winter so the pots don't freeze all the way through, you can grow it as a pot plant, and it WILL get bigger each year. You might try what I did by accident and just put some out in the garden in their pots (this pot was just set on the soil). That plant is about my most vigorous plant. The biggest is a 'cripple' that we removed from the 'hedge' in the second summer but, instead of composting it, because it still had some 'green', I stuck it in an empty space in another garden plot. Just went out and measured it and it's wider than my 2 metre ruler!

~ mscheinost: they don't like acid soil and they need really fast draining soil. They rot at the roots if they get too wet. You might give the potted plant in the garden "method" a try, also.

Lavender is so wonderful! And the butterflies and bees it attracts all summer are a delight. (Wish I knew where all that lavender honey of mine is being made!)