My love for lavender stems back to a trip to Provence before my last year of university. I have a postcard of the lavender fields we passed while in transit. I was delighted when my first garden had an established lavender plant in the front garden. And in my current home, I have a few. I love to pick small bouquets and add sprigs to bigger arrangements with other cut flowers. However, if you’re going to use this fragrant herb in sachets and when cooking, it’s important to know how to harvest lavender—and when.

Where to grow lavender

I grow lavender as a border plant against taller perennials, like coreopsis (though some plants can reach three feet or more), in one area of my garden. And I have some along the curb where my garden meets the street. The soil isn’t the greatest, but my lavender plant thrives, even during the hot, dry days of summer. The plant is very drought and heat tolerant.

When I harvest lavender, I’m selective with the stems I choose. That way there are still blooms to enjoy aesthetically in the garden. And for the pollinators! The flowers are full of nectar, so my plants are often covered in bees.

In my book, Gardening Your Front Yard, one of the yards we photographed was planted almost entirely with lavender. With its nice mounding habit (as plant breeders like to call it), lavender is an attractive ornamental choice in lieu of a front lawn.

Plant lavender in full sun in your garden or along a garden pathway, so you can enjoy the fragrance as you brush past. Be sure to read the plant tag carefully to make sure you leave enough space for it to spread. Less-hardy varieties can be planted in containers. You can find more growing information here.

Choosing the right lavender for culinary use and projects

There are a few types of lavender, the most common being: English lavender (L. angustifolia), Spanish lavender (L. stoechas), and French lavender (L. dentata).

Often plant tags at the garden center often simply say “Lavender,” so you don’t always know which type or variety you’re bringing home. It’s important to note that in our northern climate, not all lavender will survive the winter.

English lavender is easy to grow and overwinters well. You can grow it in regions where the temperatures dip to between -30°F and -20°F (-34°C to -29°C). It requires some maintenance to keep it looking healthy and full, but in general, plants can live in poor soil, and are drought tolerant and hardy. Another bonus? The deer don’t like it.

English lavender varieties include:

• Betty’s Blue
• Imperial Gem
• Purple Bouquet
• Melissa
• Grosso a hybrid of L. angustifolia × L. latifolia
• Folgate

Spanish and French lavender is native to the Mediterranean region. While English lavender grows little flowers all around the top of the stem, Spanish and French lavenders have an added flourish of blooms that sprout from the top, like feathers in a cap.

When to harvest lavender

Knowing when to harvest lavender is important. If you look closely at the lavender found in culinary uses or in wellness products, you’ll notice that the buds are closed (you’re not looking at dried flowers). The best time to harvest lavender is when those first buds just begin to bloom.

Those who use it for lavender essential oil can harvest lavender flowers and buds. This is often what lavender farms do because their business is multi-tiered. They want to attract visitors to see the lavender fields in bloom, but then they also want to make use of those blooms to make a wide variety of lavender products that they can sell.

How to harvest lavender

Harvesting in the morning is best. Hold the stem and follow it down to the base. Cut the stem using a sharp, clean pair of hand pruners or scissors. Cut below one set of leaves (these can be removed later).

To dry, tie your sprigs of lavender in a small bundle about an inch in diameter. This will help encourage drying. Tie your bundle with twine and hang upside-down in a dry, well-ventilated area. Out of direct light is best, but I hang mine using garden twine from a curtain rod in my dining room. On my province’s agriculture site, it recommends not hanging anywhere that may compromise your harvest as being food safe, like a garage or barn where there may be rodent droppings or insects.

Using your lavender harvest

When the lavender is completely dry, remove it from where it’s hanging and carefully pull the buds off the stem. Store the buds in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to use it.

Besides fresh bouquets in summer and dried bouquets as an everlasting for the winter months, my main use for dried lavender is in herbal tea. My favorite herbal tea blend includes lavender, lemon balm, and chamomile. I enjoy drinking it in the evening because it’s caffeine-free, but it also helps to calm an upset stomach. I’ve also munched on dark chocolate covered in lavender buds and enjoyed it infused in honey. There are a lot of culinary uses for lavender. There are some great ideas in The Lavender Lover’s Handbook.

For Christmas presentsone year, I dried lavender and added the buds, along with essential oil, to bath salts. I got the recipe from my friend Stephanie Rose at Garden Therapy. The project was included in this article about drying herbs and flowers for gifts.

More herb-harvesting advice

• Cilantro
• Basil
• Chives
• Dill