Zones: 3-9 / Height: 2-3 feet / Sun: Full Sun
Lavendar … Lavendula officinale / L. vera / L. delphinensis / L. fragrans
Gender: Masculine / Astrological: Virgo / Planet: Mercury / Element: Air / Goddess: Iduna, Flora
Power: Love, Protection, Sleep, Chastity, Longevity, Purification, Happiness, Peace, Clarity
Lavender is known for its ability to increase one’s clarity when viewing the world
and to assist the evolution of one’s spirit through life.
Known for calming, healing, culinary, cosmetic, and aesthetics.
It is often referred to as the “Queen of Herbs” due to its versatility and widespread use
in aromatherapy, culinary applications, and traditional medicine.
Lavendar, the Herb of Air
Always my friend when I am in despair
I ask for blessings to have bestowed
As I nurture and watch you grow.
Strong roots and dainty stems
You can perk me up when life looks dim
Green little buds and purple tops
All your uses never seem to stop.
From mornings dew and sun of afternoon
To rays of the stars and midnights moon
Mother Earth watch over thee
As I my will, So Mote it Be.
Dedicated to a Wonderful Woman who inspires so many smiles from me, just from her spirit.
Dorothy Morrison.
Lavender has scented purple, white, or blue flowers in summer and attractive fragrant, silvery foliage all year. Technically, this plant is a sub-shrub because of its semiwoody base, which means it wont die back in winter.
Lavender is perfect for the front of a bed or border, for the cutting garden, for the herb garden, for containers or for edging a pathway. Lavender looks wonderful massed for a formal look or used as an accent plant to soften edges around a garden bed.
Give Lavender an average to dry soil, not too rich. No need to cut plants back in the fall. Plants in Zone 5 will need winter protection. After the ground freezes, place evergreen boughs loosely over the plants. Look for emerging leaves in the early spring, then cut them back to tidy up the plants.
Lavender is of fairly easy culture in almost any friable, garden soil. It grows best on light soil – sand or gravel – in a dry, open and sunny position. Loam over chalk also suits it. It requires good drainage and freedom from damp in winter.
The plant flourishes best on a warm, welldrained loam with a slope to the south or south-west. A loam that is too rich is detrimental to the oil yield, as excessive nourishment tends to the growth of leaf. Protection against summer gales by a copse on the southwest is also of considerable value, as these gales may do great damage to the crop by causing the tall flower-spikes to break away at their junction with the stem. Lavender also is liable to injury by frost and low-lying situations and those prone to become weatherbound in winter are to be avoided.