Lavender, sweet lavender - ah, yes. A graceful sweep of lavender in bloom is a lovely sight indeed.  Tall ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones.  Sweetly fragrant or slightly pungent.  Very early blooming or chasing the frost. Flowers the color of deep rich purple velvet, soft glowing lavender, shades of violet or hot pink, lovely white or the softest of pastels.

 Lavender comes in many sizes, shades and fragrances.  Deer despise it and diseases and harmful insects usually can't be bothered to come near it.  With some sun and poor soil and not too much water, lavender can be the happiest plant in your garden. Some lavenders make surprisingly good hedges and low barriers. Others look most attractive when planted singly. There are culinary varieties, some may be coaxed into blooming three times in a season, others are ideal for cut flowers.  Some work well for crafting andpotpourris.  Some look good year round and others prefer to go partially dormant.  Some are tidy and well mannered and others want nothing better than to get up and get growing. Drainage is important for lavenders, and although full sun is certainly preferred, very light shade is marginally acceptable.  Lavender is one of those plants that do not appreciate the finer things in life.  A dry, hot area with poor soil makes them happiest, and the color of the blooms will be more intense and the oils more concentrated.  We have very little summer rain, and from July to September we may receive less than one inch.  We only water our lavender field three times during the dry part of summer.  If your drainage is good you may water more often but it probably won't be necessary once your plants are estasblished. We prune lavenders to shape in late March or early April, just as they are thinking about growing.  When they do begin to grow, the growth is directed where we want it to go and we have not cut off and wasted any of the plant's energy.  We prune again after harvesting the blooms, and yet again lightly in the fall.  If you choose not to harvest your blooms in the summer please do trim the bloom stalks off before the winter weather comes.  That way the plant is tidy and bad weather won't weigh branches down. You can spend the winter enjoying the memories of last year's lavender and enjoying the anticipation of next year's.