Lavender...

"As Rosemary is to the Spirit, so Lavender is to the Soul..."

Did you ever get annoyed because you were forced to sit by that ONE relative that likes to tell jokes, only he tells the same joke because he's CERTAIN you've never heard it before? Well, although this isn't a joke, I'm sure I've told you at least ONCE in a blog post...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE LAVENDER. Shoot, I may have a blog post dedicated to lavender already, but if so...well, I'm going to do it again. Why? BECAUSE IT'S LAVENDER SEASON here in my Kentucky backyard!

June has turned out to be a beautiful month this year and we are taking full advantage of it every possible chance we get. The humidity level has been down which is amazing and being out on our deck most of the day is where you'll find us...and the dogs!

However, the girls would prefer to be in the yard doing their thing which is...

See? Everyone is happy! In the evening, if the bugs get to thick, we'll just put out a fan and aim it at us until we're freezing; then it's time to go in. During the day, the sun can get a bit intense until about 3ish. Makes for a great place to sunbathe and get some much needed vitamin D! There's plenty of room once we sadly take down my greenhouse. It needs to come down now because we don't want it to get ruined by all the seasonal elements and it served its purpose as all the flowers are now planted in the yard/gardens. I'll be honest thought, I already look forward to putting it back up in February...maybe even January!!

So, to get back to my favorite of all favorite flowers, I wanted to let you know I posted a new video on how to start your own lavender topiary with store bought lavender plants. I actually grew several lavender plants from seed this year and they're doing amazing, but I didn't want to ruin them (in case my project failed lol) and I want to keep them "normal" to bring inside when the seasons change. (I'll then have regular growing and topiary growing lavender this winter!) So, I headed out to our local grocery store and actually found topiaries...for $25 each! OUCH. Over in the vegetable and herb section, they had good size lavender plants for $6 each so being the wise shopper I am, I bought two of those. I did look at their stems before buying them because my goal was to basically tear them up and make a topiary out of each so it needed to have a good strong stem.

Of course, after I tore them up, (sounds so brutal I know) I was left with a LOT of branches that were the perfect size cuttings...Like 25 cuttings!😂 One can never have enough lavender!

See these rows of beautiful lavender in the hills of Provence? Those are individuals lavender plants grown nice and big and full that they touch each other and create the illusion of one long row. I am proud to say that in my yard, I only have one individual plant😂 And it's doing wonderful this year. Blooms and blooms and blooms. Oh, and of course I find out that Kentucky has a lavender field for anyone to go and pick, but in 2020 fashion, it's closed this year because of Covid!🤦🏻‍♀️ That's okay, all the more reason to learn to be self sufficient and grow your own happiness!

And see this lady taking pictures? Yea, I feel bad for anyone doing that if I'm in a lavender field. I would undoubtedly pummel her over as I joyfully roll down all the hills.

Anyone else enjoy lavender like me? Probably not according to Bill! Poor guy has to endure smelling my hands EVERY TIME I RUN THEM THROUGH lavender anywhere we go and I happen to see it. My goal is to kindly refresh his senses incase he's forgotten the smell 😂 Just last night I cut lavender blooms (not buds) to put in a vase and all but shoved them up his nose while he was trying to water the garden😂 I love him, he really is the BEST! And their scent mixes well with other flowers! See that little bubble vase above? The white flower is a gardenia and that baby completely took over all the scents when I brought in a clipping. And look at this vase of beauties⤵️

The lavender was completely lost! We had Zephirin Drouhin roses (the pink ones), Julia Childs rose (the yellow one), Honeymoon rose (the white one which actually doesn't have a scent), gardenia, Canterbury Bells, foxgloves, honeysuckle, and violas. The colors were amazing and the smells were out of this world!

Our neighbor's honeysuckle has also been blooming so every once in a while when we're outside, we will smell those! (I actually stole a clipping for the vase above!) I do have some plants I started from seed for the first time this year and they are in pots blooming right next to us on the deck, but for some reason, I don't smell them. They're suppose to be known for the sweet smell, but I'm just not picking anything up. They are night scented stock as well as hoary stock.

Regardless, they're pretty so I'll keep them! Look what else is blooming!

Both my daughters love sunflowers, one likes the orangish over the yellowish. And our teddybear bloomed already. I also have a ruby eclipse sunflower opening and I'm hoping it takes on a pink hue! But look at these blue dot daisies! Are they not the cutest and prettiest? This was a first year for this plant as well and I'm thinking it will be an annual to have every year!

On a side note, all the fairies are keeping the herbs protected. So don't forget to head over to the videos and check out the lavender how to! Be sure to pause it as you read lol, unless you're a mighty fast speed reader!

Enjoy the rest of your week and go run your hand through some lavender!💜