I have been busy drying lavender this past month! Do you grow your own lavender? If you do, I highly recommend harvesting it and using it around the house! It so beautiful both alive and dried.
Drying your own lavender is easy to do. It is easier than drying other flowers!
Here are the simple steps:
1. Harvest your lavender just before it’s fully in bloom. Cut the lavender flowers just above the leaves. If you get some of the leaves, just pick them off. Don’t cut the woody part of the plant. I harvest at dusk after the bees have gone home for the night.
2. Gather the lavender into a hand-size bunch. Tie the stems with string, rubber band, etc.
3. Hang the lavender bunch upside down. I attached my bunches to a hanger.
4. Find a cool dark place to allow the lavender to dry. I put mine in my closet – it made the closet smell nice and it was cool and dark in there!
5. Allow to completely dry. Drying times vary depending on how big you made your bunches, where you stored them, etc. I let these hang for 2-3 weeks.
Decorating with lavender is one of my favorite things! I filled my dough bowl this year’s harvest of lavender, as you can see below. (Sorry for the picture quality, it was very difficult to get a good picture because it is so sunny here!)
Or, you can just wrap them up in a bunch and lay them on a table, like below…
You can make your own lavender sachets, like below. This sachet I happened to receive as a party favor from my relatives… they have their own lavender farm! It is very easy to make…. just dry your lavender as above. Then, once dry, you just pick off the flowers.
Here, I set up a French country lavender table using our home grown lavender.
Here is another pretty lavender sachet… Antique Style Blog used her antique hankies and turned them into these pretty sachets. Check out how she did that here.
How to make a burlap wreath blog teaches us how to make a dried lavender wreath! I love it!
Below in my centerpiece, you can see a dried lavender wreath too. I did not make it! Bought it at my favorite store in Napa!
This past Winter I trimmed the lavender so far back into the woody part all you could see was the woody party! I was afraid it wouldn’t grow back! But it DID! Do you grow your own lavender?
Here is a French farmhouse lavender tablescape I did!
Thanks for the great tips. I'm going to have to look into seeing if lavender will grow here in Oklahoma. I love it for decorating and it smells so good. I also would love to make a lavender wreath. Have a great week!!!
I don't see why it wouldn't grow in OK???
i love the look and smell of lavender. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Yes, me too!!!
Lavender is so elegant and your project ideas are too.
Happy TOHOT!
Thank you! happy 4th!
Your lavender is beautiful!! You have so much to work with and enjoy. I've never really had luck growing it so I'm a little jealous.
So glad you shared this at Thoughts of Home. 🙂
Thanks! If you haven't had luck with lavender, have you tried Russian Sage? It looks quite similar!
What type of lavender are you growing? Mine is English lavender but doesn't look like yours, it isn't as colourful.
I actually grow three types – French, English, and Spanish. The ones in the pictures are predominately French lavender, however this is some English lavender mixed in (it is in the bottom layer of the dough bowl). I don't know the exact variety as they were planted some years ago, but this website I found talks about all the different types of lavender, I found it to be an interesting read! Here's the link: https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm