September 2022

Living in California (both northern and southern) for most of my life, late summer/early autumn was always a time to be dreaded.  September and October were traditionally among the hottest months of the year with strong offshore Santa Ana winds – and this combo led to regular wildfires. This time of year in California was not something I looked forward to.

Now that we live in wetter, cooler Oregon, late summer/early autumn has become a season that I greatly enjoy. Sure there are still wildfires here, but not the ragers that happen in California.  In Oregon the days are warm (but not too warm), the nights are cool, and the focus is on harvesting and preserving the bounty of summer and preparing for the winter to come.  The tomato plants are heavy with fruit ready for canning, the apple trees are dropping their fruits faster than I can harvest them, the blackberries are getting turned into jam, and the grapes are getting closer and closer to becoming wine (we made our first vintage last year with the help of some wonderful neighbors! And it's pretty good if I say so myself!). 

And while the lavender in our field has already been harvested, the work has not stopped.  The dried bouquets are being packed into plastic bins or debudded for sachets and culinary lavender, and I continue to distill some of that dried lavender for oil.  There is work to be done in the field as well. Our plants are being pruned to keep them healthy, I've started propagating plants for next spring plantings, and we are reworking part of our field to improve drainage so that we don't lose plants during excessively rainy springs.

I've also been working to restock our products after this very busy summer, so over the last few weeks I've been making more soap, bath bombs, neck wraps, and salves using this year's essential oil and buds.  Most items are back in stock, so check out our online store or come on by the shop if you're looking for anything lavender! 

I hope that you are able to enjoy these last few weeks of summer! 

Lavender Propagation

Who doesn’t love free plants?  Well, that’s exactly what propagating gets you.

While planting seeds is the most commonly known propagation, with lavender it’s a little more complicated.  First of all, some lavenders don’t produce seeds.  Lavandula x intermedia is a hybrid species, and it does not produce seeds, so the only way to propagate this kind of lavender is through cuttings. Ans although angustifolias do produce seeds, those seeds can’t be counted on to produce the same qualities as the parent plant.  So all of the lavender farmers I know propagate using cuttings.  It’s actually quite easy since lavender takes very well to this type of propagation and creates an identical plant to that of the parent plant.  

Propagation can be done in the autumn (for springtime planting) or in spring (for planting in autumn).  I prefer the former because springtime planting means that those baby plants don’t have to contend with winter weather as they are just starting out in the ground. Though I’ve also known farmers who swear by planting in the autumn so the baby plants don’t have to contend with summer heat.  So I guess it comes down to personal preference.

The process itself is pretty easy.  Here’s how I do it: 

First I set up my seedling trays, filling the cells with a seeding mixture.  Then I water the mixture well so that once I insert the cuttings, they are in a nice secure space with minimal jostling.

Next, I find a nice healthy plant out in the field and cut off a few branches. Lavender can be propagated from either soft cuttings or woody cuttings.  Soft cuttings come from that part of the plant where the stem is a little bit greener and softer.  A woody cutting is just as it sounds -- the browner, stiffer part of the stem.  Read more...​​

I hope you've enjoyed our September newsletter! Feel free to forward our newsletter to any lavender-loving friends who you think might enjoy it!  And follow us on Instagram for more pretty lavender pictures!​

​Pam ​