The lure of lavender
Discover the beauty of lavender, from its captivating scent to growing tips, varieties, and unique uses in the garden and home.
I fell in love with lavender when I was about 20 years old and had come to live down south from Queensland. A scent of something wonderful and vaguely familiar met me and a friend during a bushwalk. I stopped, trying to find its source – a small bush with vibrant, dark-blue spires of flowers growing wild among a clump of rocks.
“That’s just lavender,” said my friend, amazed I didn’t know what it was. I’d read about lavender and been given sachets of dried lavender to perfume my cupboards, but had never met a lavender bush before. Back then, there were no easily available species of lavender to grow in the subtropics.
It was love at first sniff.
Soon after that, I met my first “hedged” English lavender on either side of a winding garden path, and great sprawling French lavender against house walls. I became a mildly fanatic lavender grower, planting every kind I could buy or take a cutting from.
It turns out that there may have been English lavender growing in subtropical and tropical Queensland, but I never noticed as it usually won’t flower unless it has a period of cold. English lavender also doesn’t like hot wet conditions. But gardeners in hot areas can try Allardii lavender (L. allardii). This is perhaps the heat- and drought-hardiest lavender, an incredibly vigorous, but rather coarse, grey-leafed lavender, summer flowering and very fast growing, with deeply indented grey leaves. Allardii lavender grows tall and straight until it gets woody and collapses all over the place. The leaves are fragrant as well as the blooms. Canary Island lavender adores heat and will flower well in humid areas. Keep all lavenders away from tall plants in humid areas, so that they have good air circulation and a full day of sun.
French lavender blooms from winter through to most of summer. It’s a sprawling, soft, green-grey bush with long softer leaves than English lavender and laxer stems and flower spikes.
English Lavender (L. angustifolia) is the hardiest of lavenders, with deep-purple flowers, intensely fragrant and the one used to distil lavender oil. There are many, many cultivars, all with stiff stems and usually growing to less than a metre. Different cultivars have their own distinct scent, especially as some producers have bred their own.
You can also find Italian or Spanish lavender (L. stoechas). It’s a bit like a delicate-looking English lavender and striking, very dark purple. Dutch lavender, Spikenard, Spike (L. latifolia or L. spica), is often used for the cheaper lavender oil, but it has a hint of camphor. It’s hardier than English lavender.
There is also Green Lavender (L. viridis, L. stoechas var viridis), as in “Lavender blue, dilly dilly, lavender green”. It’s less hardy than most lavenders, with green bracts and insignificant white flowers.
Growing lavender
Growing lavender needs limy, well-drained soil and full sun, but will grow in almost any garden as long as you choose the right variety. It tolerates drought but will grow better with frequent waterings. Even English lavender will die in very heavy frost, but most lavenders survive moderate frosts well. Frequent pruning stimulates new growth, which is more cold tolerant. Cut back lavender by at least a half in mid-summer, as old woody centres can rot, and to make your lavender really happy, give it a little lime and a scatter of slow-release plant food, both watered in well any time from spring to midsummer.
Cuttings
Lavender grows well from cuttings. Take about 60cm of snappable wood, preferably from a low branch, and poke it into a pot of well-drained soil in autumn or spring. Using a commercial hormone “cutting helper” will increase the chance of success, though I’ve never used it. Transplant your new lavender plants in about a year.
Using lavender
The scent of lavender is relaxing for humans. It helps keep silverfish and moths away from woollens, but only “helps”, as its perfume disguises the scent of wool. I love using lavender sachets to help give a relaxed sleep, lavender-scented polish so the house smells fresh, and a few drops of lavender on the dried flowers in the loo, too.
Eating lavender
English lavender is edible, but you probably won’t want to, as the “mouth feel” is like a small, tough sponge and despite the glorious scent, the actual flowers don’t taste of much. It’s best dried, then mixed with caster sugar to take up the flavour for a few weeks. Discard the lavender and use the sugar in mini muffins or other treats. If it turns gluggy, throw it out. Don’t eat other lavenders, as some can have a high camphor content, which tastes like mothballs and isn’t good for you in large amounts.
It’s better to enjoy your mealtime lavender in small vases along the table. Lavender blooms last for a week or even several weeks in a vase, and when they are “dead”, the flowers will still be fragrant for potpourri or lavender bags to perfume sheets, underwear or an insert for your pillow. May it help you dream of hillsides of wild lavender and all good things.
