LAVENDER VARIETIES

 

Here's a sketch of the different varieties of lavender in my garden.  The three on the left are compact growing and have nearly finished their flowering but the one on the right is just getting going with 2 foot long spikes laden with fragrant flowers.  I picked 6 bunches this morning but left plenty more for the bees who were very busy collecting nectar and probably a bit annoyed to see some of their food disappear!  I'm looking forward to making lavender bags with my very own dried flowers in a few week's time.

LAVENDER BUNCHES

 

I've planted several different varieties of lavender in the garden next to our new garden sheds.  The flowers are blooming well and I gathered a few bunches of the different colours and tied them to my manikin on my desk to dry.

I LOVE LAVENDER

 

I love lavender for it's fragrance, colour and the wonderful memories of seeing fields of it growing when we were in Provence.  I couldn't wait to plant some more in my garden when we finished the new sheds and there was a lovely sunny spot perfect for these beautiful plants.  I managed to find 3 different varieties and as there's a bit more space I think I'll go back to the nursery in the spring to see if I can find some more.

LUBERON LAVENDER FIELDS

 

We've just returned from our summer trip to Provence where we found hot weather and lovely landscapes to sketch. We stayed on a campsite in the 'Colorado de Rustrel' an area of former ochre quarries.  The red, yellow and white rocks and cliffs were stunning to see and I was in sketching heaven! This was the view from our dining table under the tall pine and oak trees.

 

 

One afternoon I strolled out of the camp gate and up the hill a short distance and this is what I found.  The sketch can't do justice to the phenomenal red of the rocks, paths and vistas. I had to sit carefully on a plastic bag otherwise my clothes would have been red too! 

 

Lavendula augustifolia - Maree

Lavender, sweet lavender;
come and buy my lavender,
hide it in your trousseau, lady fair.
Let its lovely fragrance flow
Over you from head to toe,
lighting on your eyes, your cheek, your hair."
- Cumberkand Clark Flower Song Book 1929

I used to have huge bushes of lavender in my garden, my favourite being the
English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia (formerly L. officinalis), as it is a strongly aromatic shrub growing to 1–2m tall, the leaves are evergreen, and the flowers are a pinkish-purple (lavender-coloured), produced on spikes 2–8 cm long at the top of slender, leafless stems 10–30 cm long, and they make wonderful little displays in narrow vases or as dried bunches. The name is misleading, as it is not native to England at all, but native to the western Mediterranean region.