Lavender is the perfect plant for any garden. We started planting lavender throughout the farm years ago and just keep adding more and more. It is drought tolerant, deer resistant, easy to grow and provides beauty and an exquisite scent to the garden. Every June, its gorgeous purple flowers pop out and remind us that summer is upon us. Once the flowers are harvested the sage colored plant can be shaped into a ball and adds a nice evergreen sculpture in the garden for the remainder of the year. Our favorite varietal, and there are many, is the ‘Provence’ Lavandin that is traditionally grown for the oil it produces. The best resource we have found to find the right varietal for your garden is an article by Better Homes and Gardens “A Gardern’s Guide to Lavender”.

Once the lavender has been harvested, there are so many uses for it. We love what Fleur de France has created with the oil it produces. Many “lavender” products don’t even smell like lavender, but this company sources the highest quality lavender oil in the Provence region of France and also produce the best lavender based face and body products we have ever used. It is family owned and committed to offering the best of the best when it come to lavender based products. The body scrub and body butter are two of my favorites and once we started using their lavender essential oil, face oil and the creme riche collagen, we have never looked back!

Last but not least…Our favorite lavender cocktail. The Lavender French 75 is the perfect summer coctail and we are particularly fond of the recipe our friends from Sonoma Syrup came up with using their very popular lavender syrup.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Lavender Infused Sonoma Syrup

• Juice from 1 Meyer Lemon

• 2 ½ oz. Gin

• Brut Champagne or Dry Sparkling Wine

Instructions

1. Mix the Meyer Lemon juice, Lavender Infused Syrup, and Gin with ice in a shaker.

2. Shake and strain into two champagne flutes.

3. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with a sprig of Lavender.

Enjoy this lavender season and remember to stop and smell the lavender and please let us know in the comments below your favorite ways to use lavender.

Love,

Sarah

PS: Join us June 12 at 5:30 for cocktail hour with Karin Campion of Sonoma Syrup Company!