Lavender And My Grandmother

They are saying that scent reminiscences could be a number of the strongest methods to journey again in time, and I imagine it. It feels to me that these sort of associations bypass the pondering a part of the mind, tapping straight into the guts. 

One of many shrubs that I can develop within the solar of southwestern France, however not in San Francisco’s fog, is lavender. It is vitally nostalgic for me. One whiff of the perfume carries me again a few years to when my grandmother – my mom’s mom – was alive.

Lavender Scent Recollections

I used to be named for my Polish grandmother, however she died once I was a younger youngster. A lot of the precise reminiscences I’ve of her are unhappy ones, revolving round her disappearance once I was six. But her loving essence appears to return to me once I odor lavender crops. 

Did she put on lavender fragrance? Did she have lavender in her backyard? I don’t know, simply that the scent brings her to me once more — her type, protecting, caring, small, neat kind. I even maintain a bottle of English lavender fragrance beside my mattress in California in order that I can return to that feeling of being cherished and guarded in sleep.

Lavender Crops

Lavender crops have a lot going for them that anybody with a sunny local weather ought to take into account growing them. The scent is good and evocative, however the flowers are additionally like one thing from a daydream, lots of downy purple, sky blue or vibrant violet spikes that sway gracefully in the summertime breeze. 

These deliciously pretty crops are extremely simple to develop and provide a protracted blossom season if, and provided that, you’ll be able to web site them the place they get at the least six hours a day of direct solar, ideally eight hours. Apart from requiring a lot of solar and prime drainage, the gorgeous plant with its gray-green foliage will not be choosy. It does simply discover in nearly any soil, together with poor soil. 

Caring for Lavender

When you’ve obtained your lavender located, the very last thing you wish to do is fuss over it. This can be a powerful plant, native to rocky soil across the Mediterranean area, and “drought tolerant” is its center title. Like each different plant, lavender wants weekly watering after transplant, a chore that may proceed by institution. 

After the crops are established although, they solely want occasional water, as soon as each two or three weeks till the buds kind. The plant is a perennial and can come again stronger yr after yr. If the scent of lavender stirs reminiscences for you too, consider drying some for a sachet below your pillow.