Finally, after years of dreaming about growing and harvesting lots of lavender, I have done it! Along with the seven or eight lavender plants that are scattered about in our Qualicum garden, I have planted a bed with a dozen or so plants on Hornby. They were all blooming so beautifully this summer and a couple of the varieties are just finishing up now. The birds and the bees are still loving them, there are enough blooms left to still keep the bees happy and the little birds spend hours collecting the seeds.
I spent some time harvesting a couple of weeks ago, what a treat to work amongst such an aromatic plant! I felt ridiculously happy, such a simple little pleasure.
After I was finished enjoying how nice what I had picked looked in their pretty little bundles, I made smaller bundles held together with elastics and hung them from a coat hanger and then placed the hanger in a large pillow case. This I hung in the warm, dark and dry utility closet to dry. There were enough blooms to have 4 or 5 times this amount but I decided to also enjoy the beauty of the plants blooming in the gardens. I may be more ruthless next year, by then I hope to have accumulated more knowledge on harvesting and drying techniques.
Now to decide just what I would like to do with this bounty when it is ready!