Lavender, my gateway scent to France

Tags

lavender, postaday2016

I have been buying and planting lavender for years going on almost two decades, if all of my lavender had survived over time, I would be living in sea of lavender, but alas lavender and brutish Northeast winters do not get along. This year I have two largish lavender shrubs, I have one that used to be large until a mother bunny decided to use it as a winter burrow and now it is but a shadow of its former self and I have a new one, planted only last year, it’s struggling, but at least it’s still alive, no flower spikes but still alive.

Lavender and lilac are two of my favorites, not for the color but for their scent. I could stay still for a long while with my nose buried in lilac or lavender. In my opinion, lilac goes by far too rapidly, even in cool weather, the flowers turn a depressing brownish shade, whereas lavender spikes last a lot longer and even when the spikes dry out, cutting them and bringing them inside is an option.

That’s the great thing about having the amount of lilac and lavender in my yard, I have more than enough of both to make bouquets for the house and still have enough to enjoy outside. I made that point yesterday when I wrote about my peonies making their beauty known to everyone, it’s wonderful when you have more than enough to go all the way around, beautifying both inside and out.

Scent of lilac in the air

Tags

fountain, lavender, lilac, postaday2015

        

   
   

One of my favorite scents has come alive with a vengeance in my backyard, my lilacs are in bloom and it is wonderful! If I could, I would freeze time in order to keep them in bloom, I would move a chair right under the lilac bush and write while bathed in the calming scent of lilac.

Lavender is usually what they use in spas when they apply aromatherapy, but if it were up to me, I would add lilac to the mix. I have lavender in my backyard as well, but they don’t bloom until well into the summer months, which is actually great because when my lilac are gone, it is wonderful to have another soothing scent to luxuriate in.

I forget what those cute blue flowers are, but I wish that I had more of them, last winter was so harsh that I am lucky that I have that one plant; other years I had an entire section filled with them, I am grateful to have the one, maybe he will go forth and multiply.

Jack is having a wonderful time teaching Lulu the ways of the backyard. Our son installed the fountain over Mother’s Day weekend and Jack likes playing with the water. I just hope that Lulu doesn’t get too carried away with it, with her you never know. lol. The area surrounding the fountain still looks relatively unhappy, but I am sure that in a few weeks, it will look much fuller.

Never say die, one of my motto’s in gardening

Tags

containers, herbs, lavender, postaday2012

a grouping of my herbs; basil, thyme, rosemary and sage

baby lavender just planted in the container in the front

another lavender bush in its second year

Rosemary and Sage

Sage and Rosemary

thyme, one of the fragrances that I especially like

lavender bush in its second year

I don’t know if my motto comes from stubborness, perseverance or tenacity, but there a few plants that no matter how many years have disappointed me, I just can’t accept defeat. I have always loved lavender, I have taken the TGV from Bordeaux to Toulouse and from Toulouse to Marseilles and the fields of lavender are absolutely magnificent. I have, since seeing those those fields from afar and walking amongst the lavender, decided to have my own little piece of lavender paradise here in Blandford. It has been, I would say at least six years of trying and as you can see from my pictures I have gone back to the drawing board several times over. I have a friend of mine just down the road who has several big lavender bushes, so it is possible to grow it here. I have asked for advice and followed her advice but even though I have had some failures in the past, I promise you that I will have my little piece of lavender paradise. My saga extends itself to the herbage as well. In the southern parts of France, rosemary, sage and thyme grow like weeds, now I realize that in the mountains of western Massachusetts I don’t have the climate for keeping the herbs alive all year. So for over a decade, I have made my project in the fall of bringing in my precious flower pots of herbs and trying with all my patience and tender loving care to keep them alive throughout the winter. I have succeeded once or twice with rosemary but never two winters in a row. Chives on the other hand, they grow like weeds up here in Blandford which makes me so happy. I can be cooking anything such as a frittata for example and I can go outside with my scissors and snip as much as I like and voila fresh chives in the frittata. I would love to be able to do that during the winter, but I can’t seem to be able to keep my herbs alive for more than a month or two before they start to fade, diminish and then die. This year I have reluctantly accepted the fact that my house doesn’t have the sun exposure necessary to keep these herbs alive during the cold winters. Sometimes you have to let a dream go, if sometime in the future I rearrange a room in the house around keeping summer plants alive, than I’ll revisit the project of green housing the herbs, but until that day comes I’ll be replacing the herbs annually.