It’s the most wonderful time of the year….the Lavender Fairy visits Lavender Hill
Tag: lavender
Growing Lavender
I think the hardest part of growing Lavender is waiting out the winter to see if any of the 85 Lavandula angustifolia “Hidcote” variety cuttings I planted last fall, survived.
I am happy to report a 94% success/survival rate!
The Hidcote variety (as seen in the photo) is in a mixed flower bed that runs the length of Lavender Hill’s driveway and is south-facing.
“Lavandula angustifolia” means the species is a “true” or “common” (English) Lavender
“Hidcote” is a specific “variety” of true Lavender
HIDCOTE
Origin: Hidcote Manor, France early 1920’s
Characteristics: dark Blue Flower, Green Foliage
Stem Length: 6-8 inches
Hardiness: Zones 5-9
Is this happening to your lavender?
If you see new growth in the fall on your lavender, or earlier after the summer harvest, pinch off the flowering stems so that your plants can focus on retaining energy for the long cold winter rather than expending energy trying to grow new flowering spikes. I’ve pinched my second-flowering lavender plants 4 or 5 times since the summer harvest.
The Lavender is cut ~ now what?
I cut the first lavender bundle of the 2015 season on July 15th and the last on July 27th. Now what? Time to relax? Put my feet up? Reap the rewards?!….not quite!
The winter was hard on the lavender as was that bizarre killing May frost. At the time I estimated that I had lost about 5% of my lavender plants over the winter and anticipated some further damage/loss after the May frost. After counting the bundles in the 2015 harvest at 352 this indicates a loss closer to 15% over the 2014 harvest!
The drying room isn’t as full as last year however the calyxes and whorls on some of the spikes seem normal size on the Lavandula x-intermedia:
The peduncles on these two specimens are also a good length however these are the exception. Not all the Lavandula x-intermedia peduncles were this long.
At this point I don’t know how great that 15% loss in production will affect my overall Lavender business going forward. I will be in a better position to evaluate this once the lavender completes its drying period and after the buds are removed from the peduncles.
After that the calyxes will be cleaned. They will go through a Riddle (as seen in the photo below). I will sift out the impurities (by hand) and after that I’ll be able to get a weight on the final 2015 lavender harvest to compare.
By the way my Lavandula Angustifolia, that I use in my Culinary Lavender product, is screened twice or more of impurities through the Riddle. My Riddle is equipped with 3 screens of varying sizes. Screening using the Riddle is very labour-intensive hands-on dusty work however screening makes for a better product in my opinion.
Last Lavender bundle
That’s it! I’m done. The last lavender bundle #424 was cut and hung in the drying room today, Monday August 11th 2014, at I forget exactly what time….whew!
Now the hard part begins selling it all!
I sell dried All Natural Lavender and Culinary Lavender online at my Lavender Hill Hippie ETSY shop and at local markets.
Lavender love
I have to admit that I really don’t want to cut the last of my lavender. It is so spectacularly beautiful and the honey bees are buzzing and gathering lavender nectar in the most amazing way. I don’t want it to end! I’ve collected 45 bundles of Lavender today from my largest patch and it still isn’t fully picked-off.
Hemaris thysbe, commonly known as the hummingbird clearwing (moth)
Break time now and then these bundles along with the other 15 already in the drying room will need to be strung and hung upside-down and left to dry. However before I hang the freshly cut lavender I think I will have to take down some more of the dry bundles and strip them of their buds as I’ve not enough room for the new cut! 
Harvesting and drying Lavender
I’ve been cutting lavender almost each day since July 23.
Lavender in “the secret garden”
Since I’m not using my lavender for crafts and bouquets, I wait until the blossoms are generously open on each plant before harvesting.
Carefully working alongside the buzz of the honey bees, that are very gentle, I respect their work while cutting. This is a later blooming lavender that will be ready to harvest later this week and into next.
Lavender is very hardy. I grab a bunch at a time and cut towards the end of the stem and into the green.
Never cut into the woody part of your plant as lavender is unlikely to grow from below the cut if you do.
Once I have a bundle – as much as I can hold in one handful – I wrap an elastic around the stems to hold it together. Elastic works best as the stems will shrink during drying and the elastic continues to contract to hold the bundle together.
I work across the top of each plant giving it a much-needed haircut until the plant is stripped clean of flowers.
Bundles of freshly cut lavender from inside the secret garden.
Back to the drying room where I tie a piece of string around each bundle and thread those onto a long pole that hang from the ceiling. During the days I open the doors to get good air circulation through the drying room. Depending on the weather, humidity, etc., the lavender takes about week – 10 days to begin to feel dry to the touch and the lavender buds separate easily from the stem.
The Lavender Harvest has begun…
The Lavender is starting to bloom
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