Lavender: the royal herb.

I love lavender.
I love it because it's a statement in the garden.


It's subtle, romantic and nostalgic.


It's hardy.


My bees love it.


And it has a heaps of medical properties...


Medical properties of lavender.


This gorgeous flower consists of more than 100 compounds and the most important ones for our health are limonene, caffeic acid (doesn't have any relation to caffeine) and small amount of coumarin.


- Limonene (also found in citrus peel) is great for our body as it had an amazing antioxidant and antiflammatory properties. It detoxifies our liver and help to prevent and fight cancer.


- Caffeic acid considered to be one of the best performers within antioxidants group. Its very important to include in our diet products with this compound as it slows down body's molecules from being oxidized and, consequently, slows down the aging process. It's also famous for fighting fatigue and stress and because of that it can be often find in the supplements, taken by bodybuilders before working out.


- Comarin that along other components of lavender, is responsible for it famous fragrance has a blood – thinning, anti – fungical and anti – cancer activities.


Lavender is also famous for:

• Helping with sleep disorder.
  
• Fighting with anxiety and stress.
  
• Assisting with nerve problems.
  

Just brew a few flowers in hot water and have it a few times a day, you can also add there a few camomile flowers; they are renowned for soothing effect. See here for more soothing-and-healing-camomile.html


Lavender is also good with fighting the following: pain relief, rheumatism, colic, flatulence, headaches and treating stings, sprains and cuts.


If you want to get an instant sense of tranquillity just rub some lavender flowers between you fingers and breath it for a few seconds, it works; I usually start my meditation this way.


This flower is great if it's planted next to roses as it hides not very appealing leafless stem during the winter, and this is the spot where there are growing in my garden.
Plus, bees are foraging on lavender's flowers and they are among the very few available during the winter in the garden. Remember, that bees are the pollinators and by having or attracting bees to garden you'll increase your harvest by 30% at least.


Well, if I convinced you that without this awesome flower you garden is nothing but an arid desert here are the tips on how to grow it.


How to grow lavender:


Originally, lavender come from Italy. Roman soldiers used to carry their blossoms to dress their wounds and that how it spread around Europe.


As a native to Mediterranean climate it likes a lot of sun, warm evenings and well - drained soil. The best place for lavender is where it will get eight hours of sun, well – protected, sheltered position and next to the fence or brick wall where it'll get evening radiance from their warmth.


Well – drained soil is crucial. Lavender hates wet feet and can die overnight once waterlogged. If your soil is a clay, add some lime or plant it in a raised bed. Or, you can grow it in a pot. Choose the terracotta pot as they are porous and provide good drainage. If you opted for pot, you can arrange few of them in you veggie patch as strongly scented lavender is a good plant companion, it repels slugs and moths.


You can grow your lavender from the seeds, as I did or propagate from the cutting.


Prune you lavender, once established, by cutting 1/3 of the stem (and you can use this cuttings for propagating).


Water it only during the spell, just don't overwater.


How to dry lavender:


Cut the flowers when ¾ of them open. Tied them and hung with their blossoms down in a shady, well – ventilated position. They are ready for storing in 10 – 14 days. Place them in a jar with a lid, or put into sachet.


If you want to put them in the vase, don't add water as it makes the flowers to fall off very quickly.


And here some interesting facts about lavender:

• Word lavender derived from Latin “lavatre” that mean “wash”, as Romans use to add it to their bath.
  
• During the middle ages in Europe lavender was used to conceal body's foul odour.
  
• Queen Elizabeth II was a big fan of lavender scent and all her furniture was polished with solution based on lavender oil.