My Life in Lavender

 

Lavender has always been an important plant in my life. It’s probably no coincidence that my favourite colours are purple and green. There was a beautiful lavender bush in my grandparents’ garden and when she taught me how to sew, the first project that Nan worked on with me was to make lavender bags from bits of old fabric. I’ve continued to sew and make lavender bags every year – now using my own crop. I have planted bushes all around my garden and some might say I’ve become a little bit obsessed with it.

It is a wonderful plant. Not only does it have the power to calm and heal us, it is a source of food for important pollinators. I went out into the front garden one day in early August when the sun was out and I counted twelve bees on a single bush. And when the bees have had their fill, it’s my turn to use those purple flowers for my own purposes.

Around mid-August I begin to harvest the flowers and then trim back the foliage to keep it neat for the winter. The flower stalks are laid out on newspaper for a few days, then tied with garden twine and hung upside down in my shed for a while. Then it’s time to remove the flowers from the stalks – hold them upside down above a newspaper and rub them off. The seed-like pieces can then be stored in jars for a long period without losing the scent.

To make an ordinary, quick lavender bag then take a rectangular piece of fabric, fold it in half and sew up two of the sides. You can then pour in your lavender and tie the top with a piece of ribbon. This makes it easy to simply replace the lavender the following year rather than start again. I’ve also used old maps and books to make lavender sachets to go in drawers. Take two pieces the same shape – any shape you like – and sew them together using backstitch. Pour the lavender in the gap before making the final stitches.

As long as you don’t have small children or animals around who are likely to knock things over, it’s pleasant to have an open dish of the flowers near to a source of heat – on the windowsill above a radiator or on a hearth. I also save some of the flower stalks to put in vases and bottles over winter – they are slow to lose their colour and are a lovely reminder of summer.

We all know that lavender is supposed to help you to sleep and I make a linen spray that I always spritz onto my pillow before getting in bed. As there are no harsh chemicals I also use it as a cooling spray in summer – I find it very pleasant sprayed onto feet when I’ve been out walking on a hot day. Here is the recipe:

2 tablespoons vodka

Handful of lavender flowers covered in boiling water

10 drops of bottled lavender oil

Put the lavender flowers in a dish and pour the boiling water over them, so that the water just covers the flowers. Leave to steep for 5 minutes. Then draw off 6 tablespoons of this water and add to 2 tablespoons of vodka and 10 drops of lavender oil. Decant into a spray bottle. Because of the vodka acting as a preservative this will last for some months.

Bottled lavender oil is easy to find either online or in shops such as Holland & Barrett or Boots. I have not yet tried extracting my own but it is on my list of things to try. Adding a few drops of this to a bath can be both relaxing and healing – I was advised to take lavender oil baths by a midwife after giving birth and found it to be beneficial.

Lavender flowers are also edible and some people bake them into cakes and biscuits. I have tried lavender and lemon shortbread – add some lemon zest and a tablespoonful of the flower seeds to a normal recipe - but the taste was too perfumed for my palate. This was a step too far! But if you do like that sort of thing – perhaps if you enjoy Parma Violets – what a great snack to add to your bedtime drink.

I hope this encourages you to consider growing your own lavender – it is truly one of nature’s greatest gifts to us.

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