Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Spanish Lavender


Spanish Lavender was new to me when we moved to the States. I was familiar with many of the English and French Lavender, but not this particular kind. At first I wasn't even sure whether I liked it.



At our old home I had planted the "other" lavender - "Provence", "Hidcote" and "Grosso". And while I still have them here - and love them dearly - when we moved to this house and I started transforming our front yard, I decided to give the Spanish Lavender a try.



Am I glad I did! I planted three "Otto Quast" lavenders, and they have taken off! The three plants are quite big now and form one big bush that is loved by the bees and the ladybugs. It smells heavenly. When the sun is behind the plants, the color of the leaves at the top of the flower are almost glowing. It is absolutely beautiful - so beautiful, that recently I bought the pink "Madrid". I hope it will turn out equally beautiful.


Do you have lavender in your garden? If yes, what kind? Do you harvest the flowers? Dry them? Tell us in the comments.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Was für ein totschickes Blümchen, ich glaube, die gefiel mir schon einmal :) Super schöne Farbe!

Liebe Grüße
Tinna ✐

Michelle B said...

I have never heard of Spanish lavender. It is beautiful! Your images are beautiful too. My favorite is the last image with the ladybug. I have hidcote lavender. I do dry some and give it as gifts or take pictures of it. I do love the smell of lavender.

Gill - That British Woman said...

I don't have lavender in the garden but I think I will add some.

Laurie said...

I planted a few Homestead Lavendar at the beach. Only one survived, and it blooms its little head off. Your lavender is gorgeous. I love that you can see the bee and ladybug on them.

Barb said...

What a luminous color. I like their unusual shape.

Anonymous said...

Wunderschön wie die Blüten leuchten, diese Lavendel
Sorte kenne ich noch gar nicht, da halte ich einmal nach Ausschau.
Herzliche Gruessse, Patricia

John's Island said...

Hi Carola, Wow, these are great photos. The color is stunning. My favorite is the last one with the ladybug. Perfect focus!

Cheri said...

I don't think our area is conducive to growing lavender (sticky clay soil and humid summers), but now I'm intrigued and want to check into it!

Linda Kay said...

Carola, such beautiful flowers on the lavender, and I do so love the aroma.

Pamela Gordon said...

I haven't seen Spanish lavender before but might look for it at the green house here. It certainly is attractive. I have lavender but I'm not sure if it's English or French. :) I always cut bunches of it to have in the house or give to friends. It's a delightful scent and when I'm walking near the plants I love to rub my hands over it and catch the scent. Beautiful photos Carola.

Magic Love Crow said...

Gorgeous! I use to have two large patches and then two years ago, they died off. Don't know what happened? Not sure what kind they were? Now I have lots of Russian Sage.

Sue (this n that) said...

Beautiful lavender Carola. I used to have French lavender in a former garden. The scent is so beautiful and to cut and dry them was a lovely time :D)

Kia said...

Exquisite! :)