Legal Sniffs: All About Lavender
Lavender is smarter than we are, judging by our plants’ success in getting us to take care of them. A restless genus of 39 species of flowering plants related to the mint family, it shows up in India, Africa, Australia, North America, just about everywhere that folks like us appreciate it.
This blog will attempt to answer any questions you may have about the cultivation and usage of lavender. A decade ago, from some 400 hybrids, I settled upon growing one named Grosso which, despite its unwieldy name--lavendula angustifolia x intermedia Grosso--is sturdy, fragrant, and beautiful beyond the words telling of it. Friends and the plants themselves have enriched the knowledge that I want to share with you.
What kind of knowledge? What would you like to know? Planting? Transplanting? Weaving? Culinary usages? We’ll eventually get to all of these, and I’d also enjoy hearing your experiences. There’s an old campfire song that symbolizes my relations with both plants and people: /From thee I receive/to thee I give/Together we share/and from this we live.
Lavender 's first gift: it signals abundant summer life. At the first hint of warm days here in the Pacific Northwest (none over 75 degrees so far this year), the tinges of blue streak the buds on my 70 Grosso plants, beginning the sweet lightness of long days, velvety nights, and celebrations of everything from opening days of sailing to lavender itself.
What a plant to celebrate! My favorite observance is in Sequim, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, where this year the fourteenth annual street and farm festival will be July 16-18. Another notable is the Pelendaba occasion on San Juan Island, about 90 miles north of Seattle.
Lavender’s relatively short life cycle—seven to ten years for healthy plants—intensifies its beauty and usefulness. Its sachets, woven wands, oils, mists, and herbal attributes perfume my environment, reject bugs, and provide work that also allows me to meditate and reflect on life’s meanings. Therefore, it’s a joy to do the chores that allow this remarkable plant to flourish.
This year being the tenth for many of my plants, they’ll need replacing in the fall. I’d hoped to get by with another year after this, but weeding them this spring revealed thick woody bases and stems that have become shorter each year and hence less capable of being woven into wands and wall pots. To accomplish this massive planting, I’m assembling dozens of gallon-sized pots, potting soil, bone meal, and dozens of four-inch pots of growing Grosso, which I love for its long, thick stalks and oil-rich buds.
“You don’t take starts from cuttings?” friends ask, shocked. No, because I’m away during the winter and cant give the attention that’s needed to grow from cuttings. The four-inch pots cost a lot less (about $2.50 compared with gallon pots at $9.), and if transplanted properly will root into the gallon pots and be ready to go into the ground in October.
Proper transplanting means examining each small pot to see whether it’s root-bound. If it is, scratch the base with a fork to free up the roots before putting them into the gallon container along with more potting soil and a teaspoon of bone meal. Don’t break the roots; just spread them out a little and they’ll grow into their new environs if these include plenty of sun and a daily cup of water.
After a decade of growing the big old plants, it seems heartless to root them out and install new favorites. So I may indeed take cuttings from the healthiest part of the old plants, and leave them with a friend in her greenhouse. If that occurs, I’ll do a blog on cuttings.
In the meantime, please let me know how your lavender is behaving. I’ll be back next week. Happy sniffing! You can reach me at http//www.orcaslavender.com.
