As I am packing orders and getting lavender ready to ship, I was thinking I should post a short blog on this exceptional herb. We all love lavender. We love that it is pretty, smells good and is calming to our senses and soul. We have been raised around lavender our entire lives...probably not in plant form but we have seen it in all the stores on multiple beauty products including soaps, bath soaks, etc. So, if we happen to stray into the gardening scene, naturally, we will want to grow our own beautiful lavender.

Since I have had this notion and desire for many years, I understand the struggle. If you are like me, you may have already killed a few lavenders in your time. You see, to grow lavender, you must first understand the rules lavender lives by. If you, like me, vision lavender growing gracefully next to your soaking tub so that you can enjoy the scent and visual appeal while destressing, you may encounter problems. First of all, lavender grows wonderfully in the Texas Hill Country. The Texas Hill Country is very hot and very dry. You will see lavender growing all over there in wineries and fields, and it is very happy in this environment. So, the first rule...lavender likes heat. Lavender likes full sun and warmth. The second rule, if you want to kill lavender quickly, love it too much. Keep it watered often. Make sure your lavender plant is always tended to so that it will flourish. See, this is one of our biggest pitfalls when dealing with lavender. It likes neglect. It hates excessive water. It really enjoys drought conditions much better. So, keep it "high and dry" like most herbs and it will be happy. With this in mind, your bathroom all steamy from the shower with probably not much sunlight and you making sure it is watered well because you are seeing it often,  is not a good mix. If you have a very sunny window in your bathroom or other area in the house and you do not water the lavender much, it could survive but it will feel much more at home in the yard in the blazing sun. It also would appreciate a rocky soil that drains well, even sandy but not any type of soil that will hold water. 

I am very busy with plant orders and very grateful but thought I should stop to shared this vital information with those trying to grow lavender. The first step is to understand who lavender is and what lavender wants. Good luck, ya'll! Once you back off on the care, lavender generally flourishes. I would also like to add since we carry so many varieties...I am loving the blooms on Fernleaf Lavender but as far as scent, Munstead is pure heaven and so very full. If you have any lavender questions, feel free to email me. Also, I am sold out currently but we are also carrying a new beautiful variety called 'Boysenberry Ruffled.' It has some of the most pretty flowers ever, and we grow it in gallons.