Food

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Herbs&Spice

LAVENDER

LAVENDER (Lavandula species)

One of the most traditional herb garden plants is lavender, and the most widely planted and used species is English lavender (L. spica). The woody, upright stems grow 3-4 feet high, and each plant spreads to about 3 feet across. Leaves are gray and narrow, about 2 inches long with smooth margins. Lavender colored flowers grow on 24 inch long spikes at the ends of the stems in July and August. There are several dwarf varieties of L. spice. 'Compacta' is 8 inches tall, 12-15 inches wide, with deep purple flowers. 'Munstead' is a popular dwarf, 18 inches tall with deep lavender blue flowers. 'Hidcote' grows slowly to about 1 foot and has purple flowers. 'Twinkle Purple,' 2-3 feet high, has fan like clusters of purple flowers on extra long stalks.

French lavender (L. dentata) reaches about 3 feet high and has bright green, 1 1/2 inch leaves with square toothed edges. Lavender purple flowers grow in short, blunt clusters, each topped with a tuft of petal like bracts. In mild winter climates it blooms almost continually. There is also a gray leafed variety: L. d. candicans.

Spanish lavender (L. stoechas) is a 1 1/2-3 foot tall, stocky plant with short and narrow gray leaves. The flowers are dark purple and about 1/8 inch long growing in dense, short flower spikes topped with a tuft of large purple petal like bracts. They bloom in the early summer.

Spike lavender (L. Iatifolia) looks much like English lavender but has broader leaves and flower stalks that often are branched.

Lavender has always been highly prized for the fragrance of its blossoms. They have been used to perfume soaps, pillows, bath and toilet waters, and even the stuffing of chairs. Medicinally, lavender was used to revive a person from a faint or swoon.

All the lavenders need sun and loose, fast draining soil. Prune immediately after blooming to keep plants compact and neat. Grow from small plants bought at the nursery, seeds sown in flats, or from stem cuttings with a heel on the end.

Use the flowers for their fragrance in potpourris, sachets, perfumed baths, and flower arrangements. Harvest when they are in full bloom. The plants are often grown as an edging or hedge in the garden. Or as a pungent flavoring in vinegar, marinates, teas, jams and preserves.