Potager Way

I thought I would have a lot of time this winter and hoped to spend some of that time working on my website but I don’t know what happened. Time is just flying by and now my head is seriously into the seed catalogues. I did take pictures on the solstice recording all of the flowers that were still in bloom; this in spite of a quite cold week in november. However, recently, several days of hard frost did do in a few of those plants.

One plant I was very pleased with this fall is the tender Lavendula Multifida. I grow and propagate this species to sell but never even offer it to my customers as, I’ve noticed, people think of lavenders as hardy perennials and as soon as you mention that a lavender plant may succumb to a cold, wet winter, people are disinclined to purchase. This is too bad because there are several lavenders that, with a little care or consideration to planting location, will survive most winters here.

Anyway, in the late summer when a bit of rain was starting again, I wanted some colour in the garden and planted out a dozen gallon sized multifidas. And they thrived. Now these lavenders are anything but aromatic and they do not look like a common lavender but they bloom all summer and into the fall. They may get a bit untidy but a light prune and they are soon back to blooming. They bloomed all through the fall and even on the solstice were putting out new flowers but the subsequent hard frost was too much for them. I am going to leave them and see if they grow back from their roots in the spring. I did dig up a couple of the multifida before the frost and unceremoniously dropped them into 3 gallon pots and then into the greenhouse. They are still blooming. So if you are looking for something a little different, but hard working, take a chance on some of the tender lavenders.

And finally, as is our tradition now, I went out to the cold greenhouse on Jan 1st and picked a couple of lemons for our New Year’s mousse. Mmm, so yummy.