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An herb for all reasons. Lavender needs full sun and excellent drainage. Think southern France. Think Sequim. You may be hypnotized by the magic of lavender, but you can help your garden by making a few rational choices.
When choosing a cultivar, decide what you want to do with your lavender. The buds fall off the stem soon after it is dried on some types like 'Sachet', and 'Provence', which makes these ideal for sachets and potpourris. 'Royal Velvet', 'Grosso', and 'Hidcote Giant' hold onto the stem better and are useful for dried bouquets and crafts like lavender wands.
Scent and flower color also varies according to cultivar. Lavender flowers have both ornamental and culinary uses. (If you wish to use your lavender as a culinary herb, grow it without pesticides. Add it to lemonade, shortbread, or muffins for subtle enjoyment.) They make a lovely addition to fresh bouquets. To dry spikes, use a rubber band to hold the bunch together, and a bent paper clip to suspend the lavender bouquet upside down in a dry, dark place. Drying it upside down helps retain the blossom shape. I've also put fresh stems in an empty vase and allowed them to dry in place. That seemed to work just fine for a small quantity. It usually takes about a week for spikes to dry. For sachet, potpourris and culinary uses remove the flowers by rubbing the heads of dried bundles between your hands, collect the blossoms on a clean surface. To preserve the fragrance store in an airtight container.
Lavender needs growing room, so space it for good air circulation in the warmest section of your garden when they are mature. Size varies by cultivar. 'Grosso' is 5 feet across when in full flower. Once established in a garden, lavender is hardy and drought tolerant. Lavender likes well drained, loose, and slightly alkaline soil (if your soil is very much on the acid side, lime it in the fall using 5 pounds dolomite lime per 100 square feet.) Some well rotted manure or compost will get the plant off to a good start. Water in the transplant, and water as needed until it is established. A two-inch mulch of light colored sand will moderate the soil temperature and reflect heat and light up to the plant. More heat creates more fragrant blooms. I've also seen lavender mulched with oyster shells and white rock.
In early autumn, cut the green growth of your lavender back so about one or two inches of green remain. Avoid cutting into the woody stems. The older wood will generally not produce new growth. This pruning will promote fuller growth for the next season and it will look better throughout the winter. Plants that are not pruned tend to fall open in the middle, exposing the ugly woody growth and do not produce as many flower spikes. I ended up removing my first lavender plants because they got so ugly as a result of improper pruning.
During early spring, prune again. This time cut your plant to 2/3 of its size, leaving a couple of inches of green above the woody stems. It seems drastic but this will stimulate new growth. Professional growers use a small sickle, but clean sharp hand clippers work fine.
To see acres of these wonderful plants, visit the 6th Annual Celebrate Lavender Festival, July 19, 20, and 21, 2002 in Sequim. It's hosted by the Sequim community and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Lavender Growers. It's a very pleasant day trip from the Puget Sound area. Reading up on herbs makes summer delightful. A favorite book of mine is The Northwest Herb Lover's Handbook by Mary Preus.
Other useful resources are these web sites:
"Herb Cautions"
Pennsylvania State Directory of Herbs
Michigan State Universty Harvesting and Drying Herbs
Purdue University Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Index
Hortsense: Managing plant problems with Integrated Pest Management
