Lavender is widely grown throughout New Zealand, and most people are familiar with lavender as a plant that is both ornamental and fragrant. The enormous appeal of lavender must surely be due to the fact that not only is it beautiful in the landscape, it is also enormously useful, providing us with one of the most indispensible of the essential oils.

  • Lavender oil used in aromatherapy has antifungal and anti-bacterial properties; it helps soothe tired muscles and promotes a sense of calm and relaxation. It hastens the healing of burns and scars, as well as softening the skin. Lavender oil is obtained through steam distillation.
  • Lavender water, or hydrosol, which is the pure distillate obtained during oil-production, has a gentle lavender fragrance. It can been used as a spritzer to alleviate stress or hot flushes, as a skin cleanser and toner, as a linen water, or as a room freshener. The effectiveness of lavender hydrosol is due to the amount of soluble lavender oil it contains.
  • Lavender flowers can be dried and put into sachets to freshen drawers and closets. Flowers of Lavandula angustifolia, or English Lavender, can even be used in cooking. Lavender imparts a delicate floral flavour to cookies, conserves, vinegars and sauces. It has also been used as a tea, to relieve stress and headaches.

growing lavender
The four species of lavender that are most commonly grown in New Zealand are Lavandula stoechas, L. dentata, L. angustifolia and L. x intermedia. The first two are popular ornamental lavenders often found in New Zealand gardens. The latter two, Lavandula angustifolia and L. x intermedia (the English Lavenders), are grown commercially, both for oil and cut or dried flowers.

Soil
Lavender plants require lots of sun and a well-drained soil that is not too acid. Ideally, the pH should be neutral or slightly alkaline. At Mill Creek Lavender it rains a lot in winter so I grow my lavender on raised mounds to improve soil drainage. Lavender does not require a particularly rich soil. I feed mine blood and bone in spring, as well as liquid seaweed fertiliser and dolomite (lowers the acidity of the soil and adds calcium).

Planting
Lavender is a shrub which, if left to its own devices, will grow leggy and billowy. The woody stems become bare and brittle, with the shub sometimes breaking apart or splitting in the centre. The question I am most often asked is how to avoid this happening. My answer is to buy smallish plants and keep them in shape right from the start. Each time you nip out a stem, it is replaced with two more. The earlier in the life of the plant that you do this the better, as the branching will occur closer to the base, leading to a plant that is bushy and sturdy, rather than fragile and billowy.

Pruning
The other issue is pruning. With the English lavenders, L. angustifolia and L. x intermedia, pruning is simple. They flower in summer, you harvest the flowers for distilling or drying, and prune after that (when you get time). I take off all the flower stalk and a little of the leaf – not too much, lavender is not a plant that will regenerate well if heavily pruned.

 

  

mill creek lavender harvesting

 The ornamental lavenders, L. stoechas and L. dentata, can flower all year round.

If you only have a couple of plants and don't mind spending the time, you can dead-head and selectively prune your plants on and on-going basis, cutting back stems that are not conforming to your vision.

The other approach is to choose two times in the year, March and October, for example, and give all your plants a jolly good haircut, flowers or no flowers. Keep an eye on the plants, and don't let them develop too much bare wood at the base. Prune off no more than 1/3 of the leafy portion of the branch. Lightly and often is better than the occasional desperate hack.
The name “lavender” derives from the Latin “lavo”, meaning “to wash”, and the association between lavender and cleansing is particularly strong. Lavender flower heads were floated on the waters of Roman baths, imparting both their scent and their healing, anti-bacterial properties. Fragrant lavender water was used to wash with; while linen was often spread over lavender bushes to absorb the fragrance of lavender while drying.

Domestic and medicinal uses of lavender, however, are documented back beyond Roman times, as far back as the ancient Egyptians, Arabians and Greeks. It is thought that the distillation process by which lavender is obtained was developed by the peoples of Ancient Arabia. The ancients were familiar with the healing properties of lavender. Its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, insect-repellent and burn healing properties, its usefulness in relieving headaches, insomnia, anxiety and depression, as well as its value as a perfume, made lavender indispensible.

Lavender has been a favourite of royalty since ancient times. It was one of the fragrant oils sent by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, and was also worn as a seductive perfume by Cleopatra. King Charles VI of France required that there be cushions stuffed with lavender wherever he went. Louis XIV who carried sprigs of lavender in his pockets, also washed with lavender water. In England, Queen Elizabeth I not only demanded Lavender Conserve at every meal, she also required that fresh flowers of Lavandula angustifolia be availabe year-round –a plant which, under normal conditions, only flowers in early summer. Queen Victoria washed in lavender water, and used a lavender deodorant. To this day, the British royal family is still supplied with lavender products by Yardley and Co. Ltd of London, who have been making quality lavender products for almost two hundred years.

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