Architecture Adrenaline
Promoting Freedom for Creative Architecture
Lavender is an essential oil-producing herb with many beneficial and beautiful applications. Its fragrant scent soothes the nervous system and is known to alleviate tension and anxiety.
Trim lavender plants regularly during their growing season to encourage reblooming and deter sprawling. If living in colder regions, consider pruning before Valentine's Day in order to protect plants from winter winds and deep freezes.
Lavender flowers are edible, making them an excellent ingredient in both sweet and savory dishes. Their delicate floral flavor blends perfectly without overpowering other ingredients in any recipe.
Add lavender flowers to a herbal tea for a soothing beverage, or use its leaves in herb salt for use on grilled meats and vegetables. Use lavender as an alternative to rosemary in Herbs de Provence blends as well.
Dried lavender is a popular ingredient for making homemade sachets to scent drawers and closets, while its natural mosquito repellent qualities also make it suitable as an alternative to commercial products. Create an infusion with lavender as massage or body lotion; lavender-infused bath oils provide fragrant bath aromatherapy benefits as well as help combat insomnia by acting as an easy sedative.
When planting lavender in your garden, be sure to select a location with full sun. Although the plant can thrive in many soil types, lavender does best when grown in loose, well-draining soil amended with organic matter.
When transplanting young plants, dig a hole twice as deep and wide as their root ball and backfill with soil. Add organic matter to compacted or clay soil in order to increase drainage and airflow for improved drainage and increased aeration.
Lavender requires regular water during its initial growing season in order to establish its root system, but becomes drought-tolerant once established. Avoid watering lavender later in the day as this encourages fungal disease; container-grown lavender should be placed near a sunny window and regularly rotated so all sides receive equal light exposure. Lavender bud harvest is best done mid to late summer for use in cooking, teas or tinctures production, creating sachets or potpourris and creating sachets or potpourri production.
Regular pruning sessions are an easy way to care for lavender plants, helping keep the plant dense while encouraging new flowering and fresh growth. Plus, pruning also gives you plenty of fresh stems throughout the year for bouquets or other uses.
Pruning lavenders should take place both late summer, after flowers have withered, and again later in autumn to stimulate flowering - this is particularly essential when caring for less hardy varieties such as Lavandula stoechas or L.x intermedia which require additional protection.
When trimming, make sure that you use sharp garden snips or shears to carefully and safely cut through flower stems and foliage tips without damaging their delicate structures. Also remember to sanitize all tools before and after cutting any plant to help avoid spreading disease.
Lavender plants produce leaves, flowers and buds which contain aromatic essential oils that make for fragrant crafts and cooking projects. All parts of this beautiful plant may be harvested but typically only the flowers and buds are used.
Harvest lavender flowers at their ideal time - halfway through their bloom cycle. This allows you to harvest flowers with multiple hues and fragrances within each spike of flowers, creating the most desirable results.
When collecting lavender to dry, look for bunches that have similar colors and stages of bloom. Avoid cutting into the woody green part of the stem as this could damage its health.
Start by gathering several small bundles and securing them with twine or rubber bands, before hanging in a dark place with good air circulation and checking regularly for signs of mould.
Lavender contains an exquisite combination of essential oils that give it its signature fragrance and many therapeutic qualities. Linalool and linalyl acetate are two key constituents; harvesting lavender releases these molecules into the atmosphere.
Hanging lavender to dry it is an effective way of maintaining both its vibrant hues and fragrant essence. Once cut, bundle its stems together into small bundles and secure with rubber bands or string at both ends.
Be sure to store your lavender bunches in a dark area away from direct sunlight to avoid mold growth, then check them regularly and retie as needed. Your lavender is ready for harvest when its buds snap off easily - this indicates it is becoming dry.
