The beginning of July is my lavender time. I have two big bushes which I grow opposite to every single recommendation that gardeners have. I never cover them or protect them from frost, I don’t use any fertilizers and never cut them to a small ball shape. My lavender bushes are huge, not shaped well but frost resistant and old, very very old.

The bigger one is over 25 years old and the smaller one is 20 years old. They were planted by my mum and have been growing since then. I don’t trim them or remove excess branches. The only thing I do is cut flowers in July.

Before I didn’t even cut the flowers, but since they got huge and have lots of flowers stems the winds that we get tend to damage the bushes. The last damage happened 3 years ago when I left the flowers wanting to have all the buds open and got caught in a storm. Damaging winds pulled out the whole right side of the smaller bush and broke a huge bit of it. So now my bush has a hole on one side. Still, there’s no way I’ll be pulling them out or cutting them down. The less I mess with them the better. Winters here can be harsh and very cold(hardiness zone 7) and the best way to keep the lavender bush is to keep it big and untouched.

I did buy a couple of new varieties this year to test them and see if they will grow like my old and big bushes. So far the French lavender isn’t too happy with our weather. The heat is slowly turning it yellow and I’m not sure it will survive. Lavender intermedia is growing nicely and it’s ready to start flowering soon. I think the intermedia will survive and grow well here, but I’m not certain the French one will do the same thing. 

Due to the forecast that said strong north winds this week I decided to harvest the lavender even though the flower hasn’t still opened fully. I don’t use lavender for anything but decoration and its scent and I don’t need fully opened flowers. I prefer healthy and huge bushes instead of fully grown flowers. 

I didn’t harvest everything, just the bits that are exposed to the wind. The lover parts of the plant have been left untouched to fully open for the bugs and bees that enjoy the lavender as much as I do. It does look weird right now but I’ll remove the flowers when they fully open.

The rest have been harvested and left in water overnight then separated by size into small bouquets of purple bliss. 

I gave two bouquets to my mum and placed the rest separately in each room of the house. Now my whole flat smells like a big lavender field, but I love it. They will stay here until the next year and a new dose of lavender magic.