Gale and I both adore the smell of lavender. Not the cheap pseudo-lavender scent that's in many of the 'lavender' scented products, either ... the real thing. I figured she would be the perfect companion for this trip.
Our afternoon started with lunch at an Italian restaurant. (girlfriend afternoon = lunch and girl talk, of course) After lunch, we headed for the farm to see what it was all about. It was easy to find from the directions on the Seven Oaks web site. We parked on the lane and walked toward the lavender field, and the scent of lavender on the afternoon breeze was wonderful!
Each of those plants you see is at least three feet in diameter ... I had no idea lavender can get that big!
The lavender is planted through ground cloth to suppress weeds.
The whole field was buzzing (literally) with bumblebees, honeybees, and all sorts of butterflies. I tried to get photos of them, but the little critters were too quick and the autofocus on my camera couldn't keep up. There are four types of lavender at Seven Oaks, and each type seemed to attract different insects. The bumblebees preferred one, while the honeybees were mostly on one of the others. The butterflies were everywhere.
Seven Oaks has a lavender shop that carries anything lavender you can possibly imagine. Many of the items are made from lavender grown right there on the farm. I bought three different types of sachets, including a small embroidered one for my new car. (no shop photos, sorry. It was a bit too crowded for picture taking.)
This trip REALLY made me want to grow some lavender here at our place, but (alas) I have too many roses to plant to even consider adding anything else to the mix right now. Maybe later ...
(written by Hartwood Roses. Hartwood Roses blog.)
