Getting Creative With Lavender
Picking your first lavender bunch of the year is such a wonderful moment; Summer's looming round the corner, evenings are longer, flowers' sweeter, and sunsets' brighter!
In fact, this is my favourite time of the year (and it's around my Birthday! ).
The best time to cut our lavender is when only some of the flowers have come out to say hello. Most of the buds shouldn't've bloomed just yet.
Cut as far down to the bottom of the stems as you can, this enables your lavender to have something to hang from when they are drying. With each lavender stem, slide your fingers down and pick off each little leaf so you are left with a clean stalk with just the lavender buds, (get those fingers green! ). Bunch your lavender into small hand-sized groups of around 30-40 stems and hang them upside down in a cool, dry room- this also makes a beautiful decoration, and smells divine!
What to make with your lavender?
1. Lavender Bag:
Once your lavender has completely dried (this will take around 2-4 weeks) you can carefully slide off all of the tiny flower heads and put into a small bag of your choice, be it: muslin, organza or any light weight material with a drawstring top.
You can place these finished lavender bags in your drawers, wardrobes and cupboards to fill the space with beautifully floral notes and keeps those moths away!
2. Lavender wand
When making a lavender wand, you will need to make sure you cut your lavender stems as long as possible. The drying time will shorten as you need to make sure the stems are still pliable so you can wrap your ribbons around them.
Group together an odd number of lavender stems and tie a thin piece of ribbon just below the head of the flower where the stem begins. Start to fold down the stems over the flower head one at a time and at the same time, weave the ribbon in and out of each stem.
Once each stem has been folded down, keep weaving your ribbon in and out until you reach the bottom of the flower. You can then tie your ribbon and leave the bottoms of the stems hanging out to complete the look!
3. Lavender Wreath
You can either buy a wreath hoop or make one out of grapevine and wrap around into a thick circle.
Cut your dried lavender flowers, leaving small 3-4-inch sized stems. Place about 5 of your lavender stems onto your wreath circle and wrap twice around with ribbon, holding in place tightly. Put your next group of lavender stems onto the wreath so they overlap the last and continue wrapping with the same ribbon, twice, keeping it in place. Continue this process until you get all the way around the wreath circle and tuck the last piece under the first piece until you can't see any ribbon. Tie the ribbon at the back as tight as you can to finish it off. You can also add a ribbon bow to the top if you would like to.
There are many examples of these lavender creations online, with tutorials and videos on how to make them, if you are more of a visual learner.
I personally think the lavender bags are so useful and make a great little personal gift! I even hang one in my car to keep it smelling floral and fresh
Lavender is a flower that never goes out of style and has a plethora of amazing benefits for the body, mind and soul so, drying your lavender flowers just makes them last all year round. A gift that keeps on giving!
