This little lavender hedge is about 15 years old now and this spot has been the most perfect place to grow lavender. It faces South and, although you can’t see it, is part of a raised border that has excellent drainage. The plants think they live in the South of France instead of dreary old England. It was planted from cuttings taken when I moved the lavender from another place in the garden. I will be taking cuttings again this year to start the process of replacing these as they do go “leggy” with age and rubbish pruning. “Mea Culpa” with the second point there. I think the one that is most in flower is a variety called “Hidcote” and comes out well before the two clumps you can see that are green but not in flower yet. It is nice to have the season spread out in this way. I have started to harvest the bush in the lower left of the picture. I asked my friends if they minded if I took some of it and promised to leave them plenty for the weeks to come.
Anyone seeing me out there this morning with my mobile phone trying to take these photos would have heard mutterings of…”be STILL, will ya???”…but I got lucky in the end.
Now all I need to do is tie this lot up into fist sized bundles, not too big so the air can circulate. I then make a long hanging loop with the string and hang them from old nails in the beams in the dining room to dry.
When it is dry, and you know as bits start dropping off onto the floor, I rub the flowers off the stems and use the sweet smelling harvest in giant lavender bags for my sweater drawers.
Oh, I am a lucky girl!
EDIT- I rarely add anything to my posts but several people asked for photos of the hanging lavender for size of bundle reference. I hope this helps.
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Quotidian 
Make some lavender simple syrup for flavoring recipes, too. Makes tasty ice cream.
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