If you had to nominate the perfect plant for our Mediterranean climate, what comes to mind? I would have to say lavender, for many reasons. It loves us here, growing happily with very little attention. It asks only for sun and rapidly draining soil, needing little if any irrigation once established. Neither deer nor gophers find it tasty, and few insects or diseases attack it. Hummingbirds and beneficial insects, including our threatened bees, cherish it. And certainly, gardeners and non-gardeners find many uses for its lovely colors and fragrant flowers and foliage.
Aptos farmer Chris Banthien grows between 4,000 and 5,000 lavender plants, many of them cultivars of English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) for their superior fragrance and long-stemmed flowers perfect for drying. The compact 'Hidcote' has medium green or gray foliage and deep violet flowers on a 2-foot-tall plant. Long blooming 'Munstead' has soft green foliage and bright lavender-blue flowers on similarly sized plants. Chris also grows many plants of Hedge Lavender (L. x intermedia) with vigorous growth and long stems. 'Fred Boutin' grows 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, with dense silver foliage and spikes of violet-blue flowers. 'Grosso' (the most widely planted commercial variety in Europe) is extremely fragrant with silvery foliage, height and width to 30 inches, and fat spikes of violet blue flowers with darker calyxes. It often repeat-blooms. 'Provence' grows to 24 x 36 inches and has abundant light violet flower spikes.
Looking over Chris' hillside fields, you notice immediately that alternating terraces are planted with olive trees, which produce her prize-winning olive oil. Growing between the trees are rows of lavenders. Chris comments that her oil is noted for its floral undertones, which a biochemist says are due to the abundant lavender scent molecules in the air surrounding the trees. "Besides," says Chris, "the lavender is beautiful. It gives me joy to look out over my lavender covered hillsides" Native bees and honeybees find her plants irresistible, and other beneficial insects are also drawn to the plants.
Chris dries her lavender flowers by hanging the freshly cut stems upside down in her dark, warm and airy barn. She says that the stems should be cut when the true flowers are just emerging from the bracts — any later and the mature flowers will turn brown as they dry, rather than keep their color. She also says that any gardener can dry his or her own lavender easily, by following her method.
She grows other flowers for drying as well (for example, Oregano 'Kent Beauty,' hydrangeas, wheat, cattails), drying them in the same fashion. You can buy Chris' beautiful dried flowers, her lavender-infused soap and her delicious olive oil through her Web site www.santacruzolive.com/oil or locally at the farmers market at Cabrillo College on Saturday mornings. She will be happy to answer questions about any of her products or her growing and preserving methods.
Also growing lavender here is a group known as The Lavender Sisterhood; they raise their plants in the community garden at the Mid-County Senior Center in Capitola. They are preserving the old handicrafts by creating handmade items that are traditional for lavender — potpourri, lavender wands, sachets made from antique handkerchiefs, tussy-mussies, sleep masks and some delectable lavender-flavored baked goods, all excellent as gifts or to use at home. As a fundraiser for the center, they will sell their crafts this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Shopper's Corner Market, at the corner of Branciforte and Soquel in Santa Cruz. Contact MCSC at 476-4711 for information on the sale, the garden and all programs at the center.
-Sharon Hull
