Herb – English Lavender
Lavender is an evergreen perennial scrub but here in our zone 3 growing area we treat it like an annual. It has long aromatic leaves, gray green and downy that grow to the height of 2 feet. The blue-mauve flowers are intensely fragrant and walking in a field of blooming English Lavender should be on everyone’s bucket list, not only will you enjoy the look and smell of lavender but you will see bees gathering their nectar.
Uses of Lavender
It is known as the early strewing herb, often burnt on low fires to perfume a room. The lavender essential oil has multiple uses, as a scenting agent but also for its cough suppressant ability and it is also used to treat headaches and nervous disorders. The flowers of Lavender attract bees and are gathered for perfume, potpourri and to scent clothing.
Salves, Ointments, and Balms: Lavender blended with neem seed oil or comfrey root powder produces a salve that soothes itching caused by insect bites, bruises, burns, and even diaper rash. Add cinnamon and clove for a pain relieving muscle rub ointment. Use lavender by itself as a gardener’s salve to help chapped hands or as a temple balm to aid in falling asleep and to quell headaches.
- Image by kleptomaniak.pl via Flickr
- Image via Wikipedia
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Most people don’t know that lavender tastes as good as it smells. Use it with ice-cream or try this lemonade recipe.
Lavender Lemonade
- 5 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 12 stems of fresh lavender
- 2 cups lemon juice
Boil 2 ½ cups of water with the sugar. Add the lavender stems and remove from heat. Place on the lid and let cool. When cool, add 2 ½ cups of water and the lemon juice. Strain out the lavender. Serve the lavender lemonade with crushed ice and garnish with lavender blossoms. Serves 8.
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Hi Spicy
Lavender always reminds me of my husbands grandmother, she always had lavender in her bedroom. So I relate the smell to the elderly.
Lavender Lemonade – I think we need a new word for herb drinks!
Here are somethings I’ve learnt about lavender that I’d like to share. At the bottom is a recipe I haven’t tried yet, but I think it looks good.
pungent taste
cooling energy
carminative: prevents gas formation, helps expel gas, combats flatulence
diuretic: increases rate of urination, excretes water from body
antispasmodic: suppresses spasms of smooth muscle such as stomach, intestine, bladder
mood enhancer; “pick-me-up”
aids sleep
sitz bath
digestion
soaps: French—laver; Latin—lavare; Greeks and Romans used when laundering
sachets
most fragrant of all herbs
antiseptic: kills bacterium such as thyphoid, diptheria, streptococcus, pneumococcus; carry to ward off disease
tender perennial
downy grey leaves
Munstead is hardiest variety— -30oC with snow cover
difficult to start from seed
buy 2 year old seedlings
full sun
dry, sandy, well-drained soil
prune in spring after frost
never cut old wood
fall foliage helps insulate
plant on prevailing wind side of evergreens to catch snowdrifts
edible
harvest leaves just before last flowers on each stalk have opened fully
cut springs where they attach to the main growing stem
use fresh, dried, frozen
perfect cut flower
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
2 c butter
1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
4 c flour
1 T fresh lavender flowers finely chopped
1 t cinnamon
1 t pure orange extract
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in flour. Add lavender, orange, cinnamon. Shape dough into ball and refrigerate 2 hours. Roll on floured surface until 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (0.5 to 1 cm). Cut out cookies and place on cookie sheet and bake at 300oF for 25 to 30 minutes.
Aloha i had been kinda aboard a mission to seek out further uses of neem oilwhen stumbled to your blog so ive bookmarked it to come back to
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