Growing Lavender in the Southeast



Spanish Lavender



During a cooking weekend at Callaway Gardens years ago, one of the most memorable tastes was a lavender sorbet. I never had tasted lavender in cooking before and was pleasantly surprised.

A quick search on the Internet reveals recipes for this herb in many sweet and savory dishes, including cookies, lemonade, jellies, meat marinades and more, plus the opportunity to purchase lavender flowers for cooking and crafts. Imagine placing small sprigs of lavender flowers in old fashioned ice cube trays, then including a few in a glass of lemonade. Or just tossing a few lavender flowers over fresh fruit. The key seems to be not to overdo, which would be easy with this fragrant herb.

There are almost 30 species of lavender and dozens of varieties just of English lavender (Lavendula angustifolia), the most popular lavender for cooking. This also seems to be the one that is about the least suited for growing in the Southeast. To keep lavender plants happy here you need full sun, good drainage and air circulation.

Lavender is grown as a crop in California and appreciates dry air and soil that is sandy, alkaline and well-drained. Georgia is not California, and I am quite OK with that fact. Those Californians don't have the rhododendrons and camellias we do. Don't expect to grow a lavender hedge in Georgia, but don't give up on growing this wonderful herb either.

The trick to growing lavender here is to find a variety that does well here, keep it pretty dry and provide excellent drainage and air circulation. A raised bed or container would work well for lavender; just combine it with plants that also can take it dry, like lantana, verbena, sedum and daylilies. In the ground, add gravel and maybe a little lime to provide the conditions it prefers. It will not fare well with our humid summers planted in a crowded, irrigated flower border. Last year I planted a lavender test garden which now has 6 plants in a raised bed.

Provence and Spanish lavender are two that seem to do well in this area. In the herb garden of The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, there are Spanish lavender plants that are as woody as the rosemary plants. Both are beautiful plants that provide fragrant blooms and foliage and edible flowers. Lavender also attracts bees and is thoroughly disgusting to deer.

If you are trying lavender for the first time, I suggest you buy plants from an area nursery. More than likely they have grown lavender for years and know which varieties do best here. Seeds are slow to start and you want to start with just one or two plants anyway.

Lavender has a strong heritage. Ancient Egyptians used lavender in the mummification process and Pilgrims brought it with them to the New World. Lavender has been used for centuries for bathing, laundry and medicine. I like the old treatment of a cordial made from wine steeped in lavender, cinnamon, nutmeg and sandalwood after an "indigestible meal." A friend put dried lavender sprigs in a present she wrapped for me. Open the preset and the fragrance greets you - how charming! I’m going to have to remember that for the hand knit shawls and scarves I am making.

We Could Lose Part of our Garden History.

I first heard about the Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin during a talk decades ago. My father and I took off in his pickup and traveled from NW Arkansas to visit my brother in Atlanta – of course we timed it so we would be in Atlanta during the Southeastern Flower Show. I don’t remember who the speaker was, just that I was so mesmerized by the charm of this publication that was talked about that I had to buy a copy of Elizabeth Lawrence’s Market Bulletins: Gardening for Love. Her book, her last of many garden manuscripts before her death in 1985, documents the friendships Lawrence made through correspondence initiated by ads in the Market Bulletin. She found out about them from Eudora Welty, who subscribed to market bulletins from several Southern states.


This little newspaper, started in 1917 and distributed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, is composed of free ads from people throughout the state – ads for home-made items, farm equipment, livestock, fresh eggs, seeds and plants, and more, plus a few articles. As I read the ads I can almost picture the person who wrote it, the one who crocheted the dishcloth, raised the chicks, used the farm equipment no longer needed, or is looking for a position as a farm hand. There’s a country charm that comes through the words.

A couple years ago my husband could not resist that charm when he found an antique butter churn. “Look at the photos they emailed me. It’s just like the one my grandmother used to make butter”. As if that wasn’t enough, he added “I need to find someone with fresh Jersey milk”. Oh dear, we already had set up a chicken coop in the back yard, but churning our own butter? That Saturday we drove an hour, MapQuest printout in hand, to pick up our blue antique butter churn. We ended up chatting with the couple for a solid hour before we even saw the churn in their garage. They were lovely people. I can see why the Market Bulletin opened doors of friendship to Elizabeth Lawrence. It is filled with real people, much richer and more interesting than those in tabloid magazines.

This publication has been a free service, mailed to anyone who requested a copy and I have enjoyed it for years. Unfortunately, the state budget no longer can allow that and so the Bulletin now will be charging $10 for 26 issues mailed to your home. I’m sending in my check today. The subscription information below was copied directly from an article on the Georgia Master Gardeners blog. To read that article: http://georgiamgevents.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-piece-of-georgia-history.html

Subscriptions are available to Georgia residents at a cost of only $10 per year (26 issues); out-of-state-subscriptions are available for $20 per year. Out-of-state subscriptions must be within the United States or its territories.

To start or renew a subscription, send a check or money order payable to Market Bulletin, along with your name, complete mailing address and daytime phone number (in the event the Market Bulletin office needs to contact you concerning your subscription) to the following address: Market Bulletin, Georgia Department of Agriculture, 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-4250. New subscribers may also pay online with a credit card at www.thegamarketbulletin.com. Please note there is a $1 convenience fee added for online subscriptions.

2 Great Gardening Weekends in Athens

OK plant nuts, listen up! If you are looking for a road trip or are lucky enough to live nearby, clear your calendars for two special gardening weekends in Athens.


The first is Apriil 9th, when the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, UGA Trial Garden and the UGA Horticulture Club decided to have their plant sales from 8:00am to 2:00pm on the same day – a Plantapolooza! So if you want to find unusual plants, ask horticulturists and Master Gardeners their advice (bring a few photos of your garden – that helps communication), or just feel like celebrating spring by plant shopping, then come to Athens. The State Botanical Garden will emphasize native plants, food crops and Georgia Gold medal winners among their wide selection. Allan Armitage will be leading tours and signing books at the UGA Trial Garden. Find out more about these sales at www.ugatrialgardens.com. If you are a Friend of the State Botanical Garden, you can start shopping Friday night at the preview sale (a few of the best things sell out that night), plus members receive 10% off purchases at the State Botanical Garden sale and in the new gift shop. The Friends of the Garden “Members Only” Preview Sale will be held Friday, April 8, 5:00pm-7:00pm in the Visitor Center & Conservatory. If you aren’t a Friend of the Garden, you can buy a membership outside of the sale that night. That leaves Saturday open to not only shop the other two sales but… (insert drumroll here):

Several area nurseries are offering discounts to people who have been to these three plant sales. The more you shop, the more you save. For visiting one, two or all three of the Plantapalooza sites, you earn 5%, 10% or 15% (respectively) off your total purchase that day at the following participating local retailers. Participants will receive a card which will be stamped at the Botanical Garden, Trial Gardens and Horticulture Club sales.



Cofer’s Home & Garden Showplace

1145 Mitchell Bridge Road

Athens, GA 30606-6411

(706) 353-1519

Store Hours: 9:00am-6:00pm

www.cofers.com



Goodness Grows

332 Elberton Road

Lexington, GA 30648

(706) 743-5055

Store Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

www.goodnessgrows.com



Thyme After Thyme

550 Athens Road

Winterville, GA 30683-1535

(706) 742-7149

Store Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

www.thymeafterthyme.com



Thomas Orchards, Greenhouse and Giftshop

6091 Macon Highway

Bishop, GA 30621-1468

(706) 769-5011

Store Hours: 9:00am-6:00pm

www.thomasorchardsandnursery.com



Specialty Ornamentals

3650 Colham Ferry Rd,

Watkinsville, Georgia 30677

(706) 310-0143 ‎

www.specialtyornamentals.com



Eastside Ornamentals

120 Walter Sams Road

(Off Highway 78 East)

Winterville, GA 30683

(706) 543-5500

Store Hours: 9:00am-4:00pm



The following weekend will be a great weekend in Athens for gardeners too. Saturday, April 16th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm will be The Piedmont Gardeners 18th Annual Garden Tour of Athens. See www.piedmontgardeners.org for photos of the 5 lovely gardens on tour this year. This is a very successful and popular annual garden tour. I’ve been to many of these tours and have always had a wonderful time. I’ve toured two of this year’s gardens and - oh my! – they are amazing – so worth the $20 ticket price ($15 in advance)! Bring a camera, plus paper and pen. Then once you have that list of plants you cannot live without, go back to the nurseries listed above, because Thomas Orchards in Watkinsville, Cofer’s in Athens and Thyme After Thyme in Winterville (maybe more) will have open houses in their nurseries, including specials and Master Gardeners to answer questions.



Athens is a great gardening town. If you feel like taking a breather, stroll the State Botanical Garden of Georgia (www.uga.edu/botgarden) to see Forged from Nature: An Exhibition of Garden Gates. You’ll view amazing sculpted gates by Andrew T. Crawford that are 6’-10’ tall among the many plants in bloom.

Take Pride in Last Year Before Planning Next Year

I am big - and I mean big - on writing down goals and New Year's Resolutions. I even carry my 2 pages of goals in my purse. Did I mention I was a bit detailed too? Those 2 pages of text are only 7 goals.
Wnen I was having lunch with 2 girlfriends in Arkansas last week I said I had neglected my garden for the past 6 months. A friend - whose garden is full of fun, creativity and great plants - said she has literally stepped into her garden to work once in the past six months (it is not laziness - she has been a caregiver and worked on 3 houses during that time). Then she asked "You haven't done anything?"
"Well, I did reclaim the shed after the chickens moved out, then the contractor needed me to move the deck furniture and stuff under the shed while he worked, so that came to a standstill. And I did hire a great lady to help out a few days. We reclaimed 3 garden plots back to lawn and started a new bed under the pines with lots of plants I had and 4 new camellias. I planted several large planters. I did plant a strawberry bed and added compost to all the raised beds. And I pruned back butterfly bushes, spirea and forsythia so the house could get painted. But there's so much that didn't get done."
"Well, you didn't do nothing!"
So often we discount what we do and dismiss little things that add up. Last night I sat down and filled out an un-Resolution Worksheet from TonyaLeigh.com and it was eye-opening. It started by celebrating what went right in 2010, what your favorite moments were, who is a new friend, and what you were proud of enduring (like the snake living in my chicken coop). Before you plan 2011, look back with some pride at what went right in 2010 and build on that. What tree turned its most vivid fall color, what planting bed looked great, what new bird moved into your habitat, what special moments happened in your garden, what special plant moved in, what you have read and learned, what other gardens did you visit, what person did you hear speak.
Of course a lot didn't get done. It's a garden: an ever-changing, ever-growing, living thing. Relish in what went right, then pick up all those mail order catalogs that just arrived and plan to make 2011 even better.

Camellias under the Pines

Today I am going to Cofer's to pick out 3-4 new camellias! The ex-chicken-run includes an area under the pines that is perfect for camellias! The area is also perfect for my hammock. Kelly helped me plant dozens of shrubs and perennials (including a Yuletide camellia) this weekend there too. So I pulled up an old article I had written to brush up on camellias and thought I'd share it with you. After reviewing the planting instructions I am certain of one thing - among those pine roots I am not inspired to dig a hole for anything bigger than a 1 gallon rootball!:

Camellias are elegant evergreens for the South

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on March 9, 2007.



The American Camellia Society lists less than 20 recommended nurseries throughout the country; Cofer's Home & Garden Showplace in Athens is one of them. If you want to see your camellia in bloom before you buy it then this is a good weekend to select from dozens of varieties at Cofer's. Your only problem will be choosing.



There are 250 species of camellias, all evergreens native to the Orient. Let's focus on two familiar types of camellias, plus a species camellia well worth adding to the garden. The most common camellias are sasanquas and japonicas.



Sasanqua camellias (Camellia sasanqua) bloom at the end of the year, starting to bloom in late fall. The blooms tend to be smaller and more fragrant than the japonicas. The plant tends to be smaller too, maturing at 6 to 10 feet tall, and less cold hardy than the japonicas. One of the most common sasanquas is 'Yuletide'.



Japonicas (Camellia japonica) bloom at the beginning of the year, from almost Christmas until almost Easter. These are blooming now and are at their peak in February. That is when Massee Lane Gardens south of Fort Valley, Georgia and headquarters of the American Camellia Society, holds their annual Festival of Camellias. Maturing at 10 to 20 feet tall, japonicas can take more shade and should be kept out of afternoon sun.



"So which would you recommend?" I asked Stuart Cofer. "Both! That way you have blooms in two seasons. The japonicas do best sheltered from the wind. They prefer morning sun with shade from noon on and love pine shade. Winter sun can scorch the leaves of japonicas planted in deciduous shade. This doesn't hurt the plant, just looks bad and worries the homeowner. Sasanquas are tougher plants and can take more sun." There is a 13-year-old treeform sasanqua by Cofer's main entry - the west side. Of course, all the other conditions must be right. Full sun is easier to take in perfect soil conditions than in Georgia clay. Our warm summer nights are another challenge for camellias. Most resources would recommend afternoon shade for any camellias.



I have seen varieties of Camellia hiemalis and Cammellia oleifera (tea oil camellia) in plant sales and nurseries. Both bloom late in the year. Fifty percent of the vegetable cooking oil in Hunan, China is from tea oil camellias, producing an oil similar to olive oil. Tea oil camellia is hardy to zone 6 and a large plant, maturing at 10 to 20 feet like the japonicas. Cold hardy camellias such as this one are a hot item, with gardeners north of us wanting some of the beauty surrounding us.



Tea camellias have been used to make black tea in China since 500 B.C. In fact, the only commercial tea plantation in the United States is in South Carolina and harvests the tea from Camellia sinensis. The Charleston Tea Plantation First Flush Celebration will be held May 12. The 'first flush' is when the tiny new leaves push up above the previous years growth, the basis of a once a year special edition tea. Find out more about the festival at www.bigalowtea.com or sample a box of Bigalow's American Classic Tea, available in area grocery stores. Camellia sinensis is cold hardy into zone 6, does well in shade and matures at four to six feet high. The single, white 11/2-inch blooms with yellow stamens appear in fall. C. sinensis 'Rosea' has pretty pale pink blooms.



When you plant a camellia in the ground, follow the instructions found on the American Camellia Society Web site: www.camellias-acs. org. They recommend the top of the rootball be slightly higher than the soil line. Do not cover the top of the rootball with soil, but do cover the entire planted area with mulch. Camellia roots need good drainage and air. The ACS also recommends that the planting hole be at least two feet wider than the rootball and the backfill removed from the hole be placed back into the hole when planting. Many people in Georgia love their plants to death by adding lots of goodies into the holes when planting. If you want to amend the soil, amend the entire bed before planting and make sure that bed is elevated so it drains well (and away from any structure), even after it settles with time.

Time in Her Garden

Today I planned to take a friend to lunch before going to the book launch of In the Garden with Billy, a book I had been looking forward to reading. Jean and I sat on her patio for a few minutes, talking in the warming sun when she mentioned she wished she had asked me to bring a tiller or tool to help break up a contractor’s clay planting bed so she could put a few plants in. Jean has to be an amazing gardener, because her garden is blooming despite the horrible sub-soil clay mess her poor plants have to live in. A couple years ago we planted blueberries, azaleas, a cotoneaster and Knockout roses, all doing well now. Today we made a mad dash to Pike’s to buy soil, mulch and plants, then Jean heated homemade stew and made grilled cheese sandwiches while I used a new pitchfork to break up brick-hard clay. Four bags of topsoil only amended half the bed, but we considered with our time and soil limitations half a bed done fairly well was pretty darn good for today. The other half would be dealt with in spring and just mulched for now. A mature Knockout rose divids the two sides. I planted 22 daffodils where I could dig deep-enough holes and moved some ‘Goodnight Moon’ bearded iris that had spread since the start was brought from my garden. I completed the planting with asters, mums and pansies, then 4 bags of mulch while Jean planted a container with annuals. I managed to scrub most of the dirt off my hands and nails before jumping in the car to get to the book launch.

Was sweating in the garden better than someone bringing me lunch in a restaurant? You betcha, because those flowers will bloom for several weeks, then several years for Jean. The daffodils will be a brilliant surprise come spring. I think that taking Grandma to an all-you-can-stomach buffet shows love, but not much imagination. If you have a friend or relative that you should visit, consider doing a little work instead of just going out to eat. Washing windows, filling birdfeeders, planting pansies, or framing photos can give someone many hours of joy.

Oh - and In the Garden with Billy - well worth reading!  Good news, since I bought copies for 4 friends!

This Ol' Shed

I had knitting friends over Thursday night. One of the best things about having folks over is that the house is cleaned in a frenzy right before. One of the best things about that is my clean house collided with help in the garden and perfect Fall weather on Saturday morning - so why not spend the day in the garden! Kelly transformed bare post-chicken-yard ground into a mulched area under the pines just perfect for a collection of camellias, my hammock, lots of spring bulbs, plus sun-loving perennials. At the same time I shoveled out the chicken shed and laid fresh mulch in its place. Thank goodness there wasn’t a mirror around, because for a while I was wearing my Aussie style Tula hat and a bandana around my nose and mouth to avoid the dust. OK, if that image isn’t bad enough, let me add that it wasn’t a classic western look, thanks to a tacky turquoise and pink abstract design on the bandana. I am glad I never actually saw how I looked - I was just happy to breathe with all the dust being stirred up.


So what was the chicken pen now has a table and chairs on fresh mulch, with an open air feel, between the shade garden and the north vineyard. Sounds lovely, especially if you have browsed a coffee table book on garden sheds. Let me tell you, when I say shed I mean shed. And the table is green plastic surrounded by white plastic chairs gathered up around the property. I'm havin' trouble attaching a photo tonight, but I'll get before, during and afters of this project. Still, it has a very calming, relaxed, country feel that fits me. Later I may go out and buy better furniture, but the shed will always be a shed. It’s fun that Kelly, who has been helping me reclaim the garden, is very OK with the style. She even lifted up the old set of wood deck steps that I could not get onto the loads to the dump last week and said “Two posts on this and you have a plant stand. Think of how pretty all of your ladies-in-waiting will look!” My ladies-in-waiting are all the one gallon plants waiting to find a home in my garden. We also decided the collection of 40+ year old fence rails could make a fun edging for the new bed.

The next step is to move the potting bench that my father made for me about 20 years ago into that area. It’s a perfect location and, luckily, the bench is on wheels. The three metal trash cans that held chicken feed will be stocked with potting soil and orchid bark beside the bench.

Today I pruned the variegated pittosporum on the front corners of the house. These were huge masses of foliage when we moved in 9 years ago, but were pruned into windswept clusters of trees. That looks great, but ongoing pruning is needed to keep that look. When I was getting advice on work needing to be done to the house, I was told to prune away any branches touching the house. Leaf and limb pickup is tomorrow and hopefully a new coat of paint on the house is coming soon, so pruning had to be done today. A mountain of pittosporum branches are now piled up beside the road.

I’m addicted to listening to my IPod while gardening and this time I started Knit with Courage, Live with Hope: a good book, but maybe not the best subject for me. It is written by a knitwear designer dealing with her husband’s fast-moving cancer and constant pain. A book being read to me is a good background not only to pruning, but to frantic knitting. Last night I cleaned out my knitting basket and discovered the cabled scarf I was knitting for my uncle. Uncle Steve is living in New Jersey, rather thin, and tells me he walks almost a mile a day. He is also 94 and it is starting to get cold. I must get this scarf done! So I sat on the deck for several more chapters and knitted. The scarf is now long enough to function, but I might as well finish up this second skein before casting off, washing it and getting it into the mail.