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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lavender and little girls

I love lavender.  It’s what grandma’s smelled like when I was a little girl.  I doubt that’s what I’ll be remembered for.

The laws consigning children to the back seat past the age of majority have some side benefits.  Listening to three little girls in the back seat can make my heart turn over for their joy and innocence.

Going to empty the dishwasher last night (pardon the sink that needs wiped out), I smiled. Perhaps they’ll remember grandma’s as the place they eat pineapple chunks (and watermelon) with pickle forks.  And eat their morning cereal with iced tea spoons.

I was given two lavenders to plant last fall—a kind thank you from a nice friend.  I haven’t had lavender growing for twenty five years.  Back then this little instruction pamphlet arrived in the mail as a sample of a book we could buy. 

That sheet certainly wound up in the right hands.  I didn’t buy the set, but I cut my lavender blooms and had a go at the lavender wands.  Sadly, mine were not the charming little bit of lavender pictured here.  My stems would not bend, but cracked in awkward places, and my cage was not charming.  Or pretty.  Oh, well.  I’m sure lavender comes with stem pliability by variety, and the proper one will just have to arrive in our garden.

When the current plants began blooming, I brought some in just for their fragrance.  Jan felt sorry for them in their nasty water on the mantel in a few days.  The blossoms were already dry, so she set them in a separate pot to finish drying. 

More stems that Laura brought in have been drying, too.  I’ll have the little girls keep bringing in the blossoms.  They can strip off the dried flowers and we’ll make little sachets for them to take home.  I was a failure at wands, but this grandma can sew little drawstring bags!

A parting shot—Jan’s hoya.  It adores the west window and goes into a sulk if moved anywhere else.  We don’t mind.  One less window to wash.




13 comments:

  1. I love the smell of lavender too. Your two little girls are going to love making the lavender sachets - something else to delight them from Grandma's house.

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  2. Love lavender! I would love to plant an entire field with lavender. The wind blows east to west here al lot and I could just imagine the fragrance wafting on the wind ......

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  3. I will have my three great-granddaughters coming to stay for a week in July. I'm looking forward to doing things with them. I always wonder what things they will remember about their summer stays when they're grown. Since I can't smell, I never wear fragrances so I'm sure it won't be that.

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  4. It is lovely that you can grow your own lavender. It is too hot here. I had our grand kiddos helping me repot some plants this morning but they were not really interested. They are very much city kids I fear.

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  5. Lavender is my favourite scent (along with fresh cut limes). My Grandma smelled of lavender...and fed her grandchildren sugar lumps for a treat.We must have reminded her of horses.
    Jane x

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  6. I absolutely love lavender. I find it very soothing and quite a comfort. I regularly use lavender scented oil plugged into the bedroom wall at night, it really helps with relaxation and sleep.

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  7. I love lavender! No doubt the fragrance pleased you no matter which way you cut it ;-)

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  8. I grew a pot of lavender several years ago, and harvested the flowers to make sachets. If you have a fireplace or fire pit, you can throw the stems in the flames for a wonderful smell.

    We have a lavender farm not too far from my house. I'm hoping to get there some day.

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  9. I love to sit and listen to my little ones when they don't know any adults are listening. Oh, the places those little imaginations go! I just smelled lavender for the first time a couple of years ago. I didn't like it. But it sure has grown on me. I now have some lovely lavender soap. I feel like a little old grannie myself!

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  10. That would smell nice. It grows fast right?
    Just a FYI - I have not changed anything in my comment section so I suspect you'll have the same problem as before. I plan to check it out at the library with an older public PC and see what happens.

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  11. My lavender plants are begging to be cut back, but I hate to do that--they are so beautiful.

    What is a 'hoya' plant? Lovely blooms!

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  12. Thanks for the reminder to harvest some of my crop of purple perfume. One of the blessings of summer.

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  13. I'm supposed to clean the windows? :)

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