Lavender Harvest

I harvested half of our lavender (Grosso) this morning, and left the other half for the bees, for now.

The real reason I only took half is because I wasn't sure it was ready.  It's my understanding that if I clip the lavender spikes soon after they bloom, the plant might bloom again this year.  It smells great, but all of the little flowers haven't opened yet, while some of them are turning brown already.  I decided to put these in water to see if they bloom some more.

I'll wait to see what the rest do, clip them later, and hang them to dry.  It's all part of the great garden learning experience, where once again I hope, Next year I'll know better.  (That's apple mint in the back of the vase, by the way.  I hope the two get along okay.)

I was just at the garden center in search of more dill, because ours is not doing well, and I was hoping to have some good fresh seeds to make refrigerator pickles when the cucumbers start coming.  Their dill was as sad as what we already have, but they did have a ton of "herbs" on sale and looking for a home, including a few perennials that surprised me - catmint, Russian sage, and lavender- because I think of them more as border plants than herbs.  All three grow really fast  to be a couple of feet tall and wide, and produce various spectacular purple blooms.  For under $10, you could get one of each and have big, beautiful plants next year.  I bought the lavender above in a wee 4-inch pot last year, and now it's ten times the size.

Our Russian sage is just starting to bloom.

And the catmint has already had a haircut after its spring bloom, again hoping we'll see more flowers later.

Have a beautiful weekend!