lavender

Growing and Cultivating Lavender

The lavender plant does best in direct sun, spaced so that air can flow around the plants. The soil should be slightly alkaline and fast draining. (Sometimes it helps to mix a little sand in with the soil.) L. dentata and L. stoechas the Spanish and French varieties are tender and considered frost sensitive.

To plant lavender spread the roots and gently place into the hole. Fill in gently.

Prune lavender in the spring or in the fall after harvesting.

Harvesting Lavender

Harvest lavender just after the sun has dried the dew in the morning. As the sun grows hotter the esential oils evaporate from the buds. Lavender flowers that will be dried should be picked with no more than 3 open buds and no fewer than 2.

Propagation

Mature plants may be divided in the fall. Alternately, 3 to 4 inch non-flowering shoots may be picked and rooted in moist sandy soil, in the shade.

References:

Lav"en*der (?), n. [OE. lavendre, F. lavande, It. lavanda lavender, a washing, fr. L. lavare to wash; cf. It. lsavendola, LL. lavendula. So called because it was used in bathing and washing. See Lave. to wash, and cf. Lavender.]

1. Bot.

An aromatic plant of the genus Lavandula (L. vera), common in the south of Europe. It yields and oil used in medicine and perfumery. The Spike lavender (L. Spica) yields a coarser oil (oil of spike), used in the arts.

2.

The pale, purplish color of lavender flowers, paler and more delicate than lilac.

Lavender cotton Bot., a low, twiggy, aromatic shrub (Santolina Chamaecyparissus) of the Mediterranean region, formerly used as a vermifuge, etc., and still used to keep moths from wardrobes. Also called ground cypress. -- Lavender water, a perfume composed of alcohol, essential oil of lavender, essential oil of bergamot, and essence of ambergris. -- Sea lavender. Bot. See Marsh rosemary. -- To lay in lavender. (a) To lay away, as clothing, with sprigs of lavender. (b) To pawn. [Obs.]

© Webster 1913.