Sleeping through the daytime
Morena All of the Grosso and Pacific Blue plants are now beautifully pruned and “sleeping through the (winter) daytime”. Given the upheaval over the last few months the work programme is running a late this year. The recently pruned plants, including some newly planted growing on lines, have survived some heavy frosts in June. In all another 500 young plants (mainly Pacific Blue) […]
Read more…A summer of lavender mist
Morena This month we have a look at lavender hydrosol or lavender mist. Hydrosols are the by-product of the making of essential oil. Hydrosols are also known as floral water. They contain about 1% essential oil with the remainder being infused lavender water. We always look for great data that support the effectiveness of lavender products. One recent studyhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40415-019-00518-1 looked at the […]
Read more…Summer solstice
Morena Summer is heading our way with the summer solstice having just passed. Stuck for ideas combining Christmas and lavender then check out these ideas from Jersey Lavender in the UK ! Lavender Baubles: Empty clear glass or plastic baubles are available to buy quite inexpensively online or in craft stores, then all you need to do is choose your filling. We love […]
Read more…a Spring shiver
Morena It’s a Spring shiver kind of week; 19C to 5C and thick snow all around the tops! We know its spring, and there’s plenty of evidence in the new growth on our Pacific Blue. Apart from some ornamental lavender around the house, Pacific Blue is always the first to lead us into summer. Because you should know many of the ‘true’ lavenders […]
Read more…rain, snow, and Ray…
Morena It’s a late winter’s day; rain all around, snow on the hills and Ray LaMontagne oozing through the speakers. Yesterday we finished the last of the pruning. An annual event we usually try and complete before the first frosts of Autumn. We are a little behind this year, but the older Grosso plants are capable of handling a “haircut” despite the […]
Read more…a few months in lavender
A few months in lavender time have passed since we last posted! We had a busy summer with a fantastic crop of Grosso, the oil has great scent already. Our Pacific Blue was a little less prolific but that reflects the hard pruning we gave it last year. Again the scent is already maturing and taking on some great notes, probably […]
Read more…Spring is slowly springing!
It’s true, Spring is slowly springing in the lavender fields. As I write, the first flowers are opening on some ornamental lavender we have adjacent to the house. Some of the stoechas (which originated from Europe) are well into bloom, with one variety covered in masses of long purple spikes. Stoechas, while not producing the quality or quantity of our Pacific Blue […]
Read more…the mists of time
If we turn back the mists of time we begin to understand that lavender mist is produced at the same time as the production of essential oils. A part of the distillation process, essential oils float to the top where they are removed, leaving behind a watery distillation. We call this lavender mist. Typically this diluted essential oil is less than […]
Read more…the colour purple…
It’s just past the shortest day , so time to put away your mid winter blues and replace them with mid winter “purples” and the thoughts of a lavender summer. We thought we’d celebrate with some famous and infamous quotes and stories about lavender to reflect on over winter…. “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed […]
Read more…of this and that (a brief history of lavender)
This months blog outlines a brief history of lavender. Winter suddenly arrived on Banks Peninsula this week with 120km hour winds, snow on the tops and a wind chill of 3C. It’s a great time to sit in front of the fire and reflect on this and that. In ancient times lavender was used for mummification and perfume by the Egyptians, […]
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