Lavender’s Calming Beauty
I fell in love with lavender when I saw fields of solid purple in Provence, France. I was further smitten when I walked through three-foot-tall bushes of lavender in Monet’s garden in Giverny. Back home, I tried to reproduce lavenders of the size I saw in France. Though I’ve grown them successfully, I’ve never been able to get them to grow as large as those.
Lavender is native to the Mediterranean, which helps you understand how to grow it. It grows in rocky, well-drained, limey soil under lots of sun and low humidity. Maryland, of course, has high humidity, which is one constraint on lavender’s growth. To improve conditions, I add limestone gravel and even some crushed oyster shells to the soil, along with a handful of lime. Mulching with white limestone gravel reflects sunlight back underneath the plant. Wood mulch, on the other hand, can hold too much moisture and make the plant susceptible to fungal problems.
The word lavender comes from the Latin word lavarre, which means to bathe, stemming from the ancient Roman use of lavender in their bathing waters. Over time, lavender continued to be used for its fragrance, medicinal and culinary properties as well as for landscaping.
It became popular as a medicine during the Middle Ages and in 1620 was one of the medicinal herbs taken to the New World by Pilgrims. Today it is used in many soaps, perfumes and cosmetic products. It is a relaxing herb that will calm you and help you fall asleep. A dab or spray of essential oil on your pillow will help with insomnia. Look out for adulteration with essential oils of inferior species.
Lavendula angustifolia is the species referred to as true English lavender. This is the lavender with the calming properties and the sweetest oil. The species’ many cultivars include Hidcote (the darkest blue flower), Munstead, Purple Bouquet, Rosea (a pink form), Sachet, Seals’ Seven Oaks and a multitude of others. They usually bloom from mid-June to early July. Harvest the flowers as they just start to open from the bottom up.
Popular varieties that bloom starting in mid-July are crosses of L. angustifolia with L. latifolia, known as spike lavender.
Cultivars of lavandins including Phenominal, Provence, Grosso, Fat Spike and many others grow taller and are a little more resistant to fungal diseases but not as hardy. They also contain more camphor in their essential oil. Some even rebloom in late summer.
Growing both types can extend your garden’s lavender season.
Maria Price-Nowakowski runs Beaver Creek Cottage Gardens, a small native plant nursery in Severn.