Lavender in my English country garden

Advantages: Look and smell lovely. Insects are attracted to the flowers
Disadvantages: Don't last for ever

...Lavender is a quintessential English country garden shrub. In our ever increasing warmer and dryer climes they are probably going to thrive even better over the coming years than the other traditional plants such as hollyhocks, honeysuckle, rose or delphiniums. Lavender looks good, smells lovely and has many practical uses. Indeed lavenders have been recorded in this country since the Roman times. They are a very versatile plant, valued for their aesthetic, aromatic, medicinal and culinary uses. In my opinion they make a lovely edging to a path so, as you brush past, their perfume is released. ☼ Growing ☼ Lavender can be grown from seed but they are not very easy; the seeds germinate slowly and they are not guaranteed to come up true to the parent plant, so in effect you could get any colour flower. They...

perfectlypolished 12.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

Lovely Lavender

Advantages: pretty smells good
Disadvantages: none

...Lavender-----------Lavendula The name lavendula is from the latin lavare, to wash. I smelt some lavender yesterday and thought ahhhhhh Lavender I have not written an opinion on you yet. So I have settled down to write one. Lavender is an herb I have strong childhood memories of. My parents live in a thatched cottage a semi attached to my grandparents who are now dead the garden was combined and we had a row of about 10 lavender plants they were under the washing line. I hadn't thought about it till recent years, but I suspect my granddad planted them there to scent the washing as it was drying. As a child (40 years ago) I remember picking the lavender and putting it in the airing cupboard wrapped up in a pillowcase to dry. When it had dried and the flowers fell of the stalks, my mother would sew little bags and we would stuff...

mumsymary 21.10.2002 (28.04.2006) · Read review
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Review of Lavender

Lavenders blue....

Advantages: lots of healing properties
Disadvantages: none

...Lavender There are around twenty eight species of lavender and it is one of the most commonest plants that we all associate with essential oils and bathroom products, when we buy toilet blocks, air freshener, essential oils and room deodorises, you can always find lavender as one of the scents. It can be found in most well established gardens and in garden centres as it is a great plant for adding colour to the garden display. This is a hardy evergreen plant, with fragrant flowers, it grows as a shrub which spread and set into the ground well in most soils and in most area's of the garden. Although they do like a sunny position they will grow well in part shady area's. The plants usually grow to around a 3-4 ft spread so give them room when you position them in the garden. They will flower from July to September and the flowers...

Sunnysmiles 05.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

  There's so much more to lavender than you think!

Advantages: Has multiple uses around the home, smells lovely
Disadvantages: Can attract bees (which isn't that bad!)

...In my mind, there are two types of lavender: that grown in the garden, and that used in toiletries. People seem not to link these two together, and opt for just growing lavender for its look and scent in the garden, and do not realise how easily it can be used inside the house, and indeed, for how many purposes. As this review is in the 'garden' section of Ciao, I feel I must start off with this side of things first. Indeed, there is no chicken-or-egg question when it comes to lavender - I suppose one must start off by growing it before using it! Lavender in general ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lavender is also known by its Latin name, Lavendula, especially if shopping in garden centres. There are many different species of the plant (approx. 25), but the most common is lavendula officinalis, also known as lavendula angustifolia or common...

drawcabia 26.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

lavender and versatility

Advantages: It has many uses this plant & has been used for many years in different ways
Disadvantages: none

...Having an allotment means hard heavy work and one of the best uses I have found for lavender is against carrot fly. We have a large allotment and every year we lose lots carrots to the fly, it is a real pest. I have found that picking the flower stalks of lavender and crumbling them over the ground after pulling up carrots stops the scent of the carrots escaping and the fly does not get into them. I have done this for 2 years very successfully and really look forward to good veggies now. Further uses of this plant is that it is supposed to help keep greenfly off the roses when planted nearby and it is a lovely sweet scented flower and gorgeous colour, well worth buying but it does go woody and needs to be replaced every couple of years. It does appear to seed itself though....

cinderhill 26.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

dwarf lavender great for small gardens

Advantages: smell and look great
Disadvantages: nothing

...Lavender (Lavendula)is a great aromatic shrub and there are varieties suitable for most gardens. Small gardens where space is at a premium like mine benefit from dwarf varieties. A dwarf lavender I can recommend from experience that won't get much about two feet in height is one called Lavender angustifolia " Munstead". This is my favourite variety of lavender .The plant is evergreen , compact and won't get out of control like some varieties such as L "Grappenhall" which can romp away to over five feet in height if left unchecked. Mind you all lavenders regardless of variety need cutting back to prevent them becoming woody and to keep them compact and healthy. I trim mine once every six weeks at least in the growing season and they really respond to this .It prolongs the life of the plant considerably and makes the appearance so...

Gardenex 04.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

With Government Approved Lavender!!

Advantages: authentic scent, lathers well
Disadvantages: Too average for the price

...As I feel like I have mentioned in many, many reviews now, I bought a large set of L'Occitane products from QVC last year and have been (very) slowly making my way through them. I recently came to use the lavender shower gel and must admit, it was not one I was particularly looking forward to trying out because I'm not overly keen on the scent of lavender. This shower gel has a 'vegetable-based soft foaming base' according to L'Occitane, as well as lavender essential oil which they say will relax the body and mind, whilst leaving a fresh and light scent on the skin. It says on the label that this contains A.O.C. lavender, and I don't know about you, but that's something I'd never heard of, so I looked it up on the L'Occitane website to find out what it was and why it was different to other lavender. It seems that A.O.C. stands...

pink_champagne 22.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of L'Occitane Lavender Harvest Shower Gel (Plastic Bottle)

Growing Lavender is a Snap

Advantages: Easy to grow, heavenly scent
Disadvantages: Hard to grow from seed

...towns to mask the scent of smelly streets. (They didn't have indoor plumbing back then.) It was also strewn indoors to mask strong household odors. (They didn't have deodorants, either, or any way to refrigerate their foods. The Middle Ages was certainly a smelly time!) The Greeks and Romans added the herb to their bath water, in fact, its' name derives from the Latin word lavare, which means "to wash." In fact, in Victorian England, washer women were called "lavenders." Queen Victoria kept her palace scented with the fragrant herbs, and Napoleon bathed with lavender water. There are many different species of lavender, some experts say as many as 28, although their history has become tangled and muddled. The variety most commonly called English lavender is really lavandula angustifolia. The other most common strain is French lavender...

RenoWriter 10.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

Lavender - The All Round Plant

Advantages: Aroma, evergreen, easy to propagate
Disadvantages: Can grow woody, doesn't like 'wet feet'

...fragrant, the leaves carry a less strong scent of lavender. Most varieties flower between July and August. Lavenders can grow between 1 and 3 foot depending on the variety. The plants can become very bushy and grow up to 4 ft across so if planting a group together remember to give them space to spread. What are the Latin names? Don't be frightened by Latin names. The family name is Lavandula and here are some descriptions of some of the most popular types: Lavandula vela - this is commonly known as English lavender. This lavender has a very strong smell. Lavandula denata - has silvery-grey leaves which are dogged tooth and look fluffy. This is a very visual type of lavender. Lavandula angustifolia - this is another variety with silver foliage and it is low growing so is excellent for the edge...

Bobbin 28.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Lavender

Johnny English

Advantages: great entertainment and side splitting comedy
Disadvantages: none

...Director: Peter Howitt Producer: Tim Bevan, Mark Huffam and Eric Fellner. Writers: Neal Purvis, William Davies and Robert Wade. Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, John Malkovich and Natalie Imbruglia This cracking comedy was released in the summer of 2003, the main character, Johnny English, basing himself self on a character originally created for a well known credit card company adverts. Johnny English, (played by Rowan Atkinson both on the adverts and this movie) is a British secret service member, spoofing the likes of James Bond. Unfortunately, he is as competent as Inspector Jacques Clouseau (from the Pink Panther films) which does lead him into some tricky situations. His partner, Bough, pronounced 'Boff', (played by Ben Miller) is the silent hero of the movie, always allowing Johnny to take full credit...

blissman70 27.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Johnny English (DVD)