Lavender

I love lavender.  I love the smell, I love the color, I love the structure of the plant and I love seeing the bees go busily from flower to flower.  I love that it's a perennial and that the deer and rabbits won't eat it.  One of my goals as I plant things in my garden is to plant things that can take care of themselves with little further input from me.  I also want variety.

So far I have 4 different types of lavender in my yard.  I just planted the 4th this week.

My first lavender was, of course, an English Lavender.  It is small, but seems happy in a corner near the walkway to our front door.

It is Lavandula angustifolia "Thumbelina Leigh" which I purchased in 2009 at Squak Mountain Nursery in Issaquah.

My next lavender was purchased from our local Home Depot in April of 2011.



It is a Lavandula stoechas or Spanish (or French) lavender var. 'Madrid Pink'. It likes its location on a sunny, south-facing hillside.




My third lavender was purchased from a plant sale at Remlinger farm in May of 2011.

This one is a cross called a Grappenhall Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia cv.).  It has been choked a bit by weeds so it hasn't done as well as the Spanish one even though they share the same sunny hillside.

I found this informative page: Grappenhall Lavender at www.mountainvalleygrowers.com

My most recent purchase and planting was another Lavandula stoechas 'Anouk'.  I don't know if it has a specific variety.

I bought it from a wholesale nursery in Woodinville, T&L Nursery, that holds a public sale once a year.  This year the sale was Oct 6th, which was a glorious sunny day.  I finally got the lavender in the ground 2 days ago on the sunny hillside where the other one is doing so well.

And finally - nearby we also have a whole FARM dedicated to the growing and sale of lavender:  Woodinville Lavendar.  It makes me smile each time I drive by.