For the Love of Lavender.....

Image by Amanda D'Arcy

I'm not quite sure when and where my love for lavender actually started...

but once it did..

there was no turning back.

I have been a very very lucky lady...having been exposed to so many International Gardens..

floating on a barge through France,

trodding through the sheep dappled English countryside in Junior High and finally living in Florence, Italy just a few steps from the Boboli Gardens. 

These gardens were absolutely ae inspiring for me...
tranquil, romantic, manicured,  yet wonderfully wild 

In fact..doesn't that epitomize lavender?

So..when we renovated our antiquated farmhouse..and realized we would not be living abroad..

I was very very determined to bring those gorgeous European gardens to me.

So the lavender walkway began...

Dozens and dozens of boxes filled with tiny lavender plants arrived at my doorstep via White Flower Farm.

The Monster at a mere 2 years of age was right there beside me..

getting his real first taste of gardening...

One year later..we could finally sit back, celebrate with some pudding and admire our hard work...

Images by chocolate creative design

Over the years...we have watched them grow into crazy wonderful beautiful bushes...

and if you have ever read "Practical Magic" then you know that..
"you keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck".

and luck it has brought....

it has also given us 

praying mantises for the Monster to feed by hand,
wonderful flowers to put in Auntie Egg's room when she visits
and 

the most glorious of scents when you walk by and gently run your fingers through on your way to our side door.

and..

it seems to have inspired me in the work that I have created...

Bundled as a clue in a Save the Date

 Images by Anna Sawin

Stamped on a wedding invitation envelope

Image by Anna Sawin

Sprinkled inside an invitation suite

Image by Anna Sawin

and just this year..

a wreath designed especially for Eleanor & Matt's wedding.

Image by Iris Photography

Out of all the plants in my garden they have become my "babies".

I'm not sure if it's because of their beauty or because I simply know the least about them....
So I enlisted the help of the "Lavender Whisperer", the lovely Miss Moira Casadaei.

Moira, whose daughter Bri runs Terra Firma Farm, is the lady behind their Faire Ivy soap.
One of my favorites is their lavender scrub.

Moira, being the wonderful kind soul that she is, offered to come and check out my lavender bushes as they had been looking a tad sickly.
Dressed in a fabulous white dress and armed with a giant set of clippers, Moira proceeded to hack and shape my purple ladies in the heat of a late afternoon summer day.
As the sun drew down...there were piles and piles of lavendar cuttings...
We scooped them up and gently placed them into her car..
Did you know that it takes about a zillion lavender flowers to make just a tiny ounce of lavender oil?
So Moira took them back to her "lab"  and hopefully was able to get just enough for a batch of their AMAZING lavender scrub soap.

image by Moira Casadei

 So if you head on over to Faire Ivy and pick up a bar of their lavender scrub or other lavender products...
you might just be picking something from our garden that The Monster and I have cultivated with love...

To Miss Moira-
Thank you for your kindness, patience, knowledge, sense of humor, great conversation and now a wonderful friendship.