Is it difficult or is it possible to grow lavender from seed in my area. I am in the central coastal area of Oregon in Toledo. I have fallen into the romance of lavender and have been making lavender wands and robbing everyones garden for stalks of lavender. So..... I think to play it safe I better start raising my own lavender. I know that I can get the plants but can I grow it from seed without too much difficulty?
Here are some of my wands
One more picture
There are varieties with seeds for sale. Some are supposed to be easier than others, I say try a few and see how it goes.
Here's some interesting Lavender info. You have to scroll down to get to the seed info.
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm
Love the name, thanks so much for the great website. It answers alot of questions. I think I will give it a try. What can it hurt.
I am sure icanfindroom for it some where. Hehehe cute. I get a lot of comments on my name but yours is just great.
Jan
Great link, Jan! Thanks for posting it.
icanfindroom (I love the name too!), you have made some very nice wands. I hope you find a way to grow a lot of lavender up there!
Kathleen
KaperC , you live in my home town. Well, in my home county. I was born in the old Balboa Hospital in SanDeigo. Lived most of my life in Mission and Pacific beach. Miss it loads but not the traffic, population and cost. Miss the beaches the most. I lived most of my life on the beaches and in the museums and SD Zoo.
Jan
Yep, it's costly, but we're here for the duration now. At least we managed to find land in horse country, which is better than city living. Hardly ever go south. And anything is better than L.A.! My mom and sister live in Eugene. :-)
Hi Jan,
Nice that you have taken so to Lavender wand making.
Some of my Lavender reseeds in the garden on it's own. You can also start Lavender from cuttings. To do this you would cut some stems and they would be stems with no flower head on top, or with the flower cut off. Strip the lower leaves so that two or three nodes are burried in media. Cut just below the bottom node. Use pearlite or vermiculite or a very light airy potting soil. It is good to use a rooting hormone dip. You can usually find the rooting hormone in a good gardening supply store. Keep the media moist and you might put a plastic bag over the top for humidity.
I did try a packet of seeds that I bought last fall from Renee's Garden. I got them because it was not a readily available variety. I got one plant to survive out of the whole packet of seeds, so my luck was not the best, but that is not to say someone else might try them and have a much better take. The variety was French Perfume. Supposed to be a great smelling one, but not a long stemmed type. If you'd like to check it out it is at: http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/seeds-hm/herbsC.htm
The best variety for Lavender wands we have found to be 'Grosso', it has long stems and high quality oils. 'Provence' is good too. We grow both of these. They are wonderful garden plants and the bees love them. Seeds and plants for these two varieties should be readily available.
Good Luck With Your New Lavender Patch,
Diana
This message was edited Jul 28, 2009 11:06 AM
Thanks Diana, yes I have fallen in love with lavender. I guess I never really exposed myself to it as much as I have this year. I just order 9 plants from Mountain Valley growers. I ordered yellow, sweet and Edelweiss or botanically,
lavendula virisis
" x intermedia
" heterophylla
Should be here is 2 days. Can't wait till next year or the year after. A friend whose plants I have been trimming gave me two plants also. The say that if you surround your front door with lavender it will keep evil spirits away. I just hope it doesn't keep my hubby away. He he he.
Here is a pic of my latest wands. They have improved. Mine is the red one and Jodi is the lavender one. Not bad heh? Whoops, I forgot that I already put a pic on here. Oh well. Life goes on and I do hope you are surviving this heat wave we are having. I know its hot there cause its as hot as a jalapeno pepper here. It was 90's in the mud room yesterday and thats on the coast almost. Poet and didn't know it.
Take care
Jan
This message was edited Jul 28, 2009 11:05 AM
Jan,
Here is a picture of some of Jodi's wands that she made last summer. Notice how she doubled up the ribbon to have a two tone affect? She put a silvery looking one in the back and the brown one on top. The Silvery one was slightly wider than the brown so you can see some of the silver on both sides. Same with the one in the center, silver in the back and purple on top.
You are doing a great job with your wands. Other ideas with lavender are sewing dried Lavender flowers into little envelopes of fabric and using them as "Dream Pillows". You stick it in your pillowcase so you smell the lavender at night and it helps you sleep better. Also we have sewn a little bigger pouch of lavender into a fabric envelope and used these in the dryer to scent the clothes.
You could also fill some of your pineneedle baskets with dried lavender and put them all around your house. We buy little vials of lavender oil and put drops of it on the dried lavender to refresh the scent as time goes on.
Yes, it is very hot over here today, expecting 105, and that is very unusual for the Willamette Valley. I'll be glad when the heatwave is past, watering my landscaping has suddenly become a full time job.
Take Care,
Diana
I grew 'Munstead' and it is an easy germinator but not the best for wands. I think seeding is definitely worth a try. Good luck and thanks for sharing the pics of your wands.
Beautiful wands!
I've tried seeds a couple of times and finally decided I'm just going to purchase plants... I've got a hedge of 'Grosso' along one side of the driveway, and it's amazing.
If anybody is curious about how to make lavender wands, my niece helped me write a DG article last year during "Camp Aunt Jill" http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1407/
:-)
Or, you can go to http://downtherabbithole.typepad.com/my_weblog/
There are instructions there. That is where I learned. This is a very enjoyable and inspirational website.
This message was edited Jul 29, 2009 3:09 PM
I have quite a bit of lavender but don't make wands. I just can't imagine the work involved! Your wands are Very pretty! The bigger varieties of lavender probably work best, right?
I haven't made a lot of them, but I've made a few, and they're fun. They're quicker than making a basket or something similar. Longer stems make a longer wand, and the sturdy stems of L. grosso are easier to work with, but I'd say even if your stem is just 3 times as long as the bloom on the top, that's enough to bend over to enclose the blooms and create a "handle" on the wand.
