Lavender is well known for its power to relieve stress. Peace, calm and serenity come to mind when people think about lavender, or Lavandula angustifolia,because it is known to promote them. This fragrant, bushy shrub with its vivid, grayish-purple flowers is highly valued and prized garden possession among herbalists.
How to Use Lavender
Flowers picked as they open must be dried or used fresh. The dried flowers will hold their fragrance for many months. Dry the stems in a cool dark place to get the best results. Room or draw fresheners can be created from the dried petals by putting them in a potpourri pot or making sachets. For those who experience sleeplessness, a pillow filled with lavender induces sound sleep and the stems make great incense for aromatherapy.
The flowers are used in jams, vinegar and stews. Crystallized flowers make beautiful culinary decorations. Lavender flowers infused as a tea treats headaches, stress and anxiety, flatulence, fainting, dizziness, and halitosis. A lavender flower douche effectively treats vaginal infections, particularly candida yeast infections. Lavender tonic water helps delicate and sensitive skin speed up cell replacement and acts as an antiseptic against acne.
The essential oil is used as an antiseptic, mild sedative and painkiller, specifically on insect bites, stings and small burns. Adding six to seven drops of the oil to bathwater produces calmness. Rubbing a little of the oil on the temple brings relief from headaches. Massage aromatherapy is an excellent use of the flowers blended with oil to relieve throat infections, skin sores, inflammation, rheumatic aches, anxiety, insomnia and depression.
Lavender Cultivation and Growing Tips
This perennial shrub is difficult to grow from seed, but it can be easily propagated by cuttings and root divisions. Use seed planting only in the spring, cuttings in the late spring or early fall and root divisions in the spring or summer. Lavender grows best in full sun with dry soil to discourage fungus.
Thin lavender plants to about two feet apart. Faded flower stems need to be removed quickly. The flowers should be gathered as tight buds right before they open or as they start to open. The leaves can be picked at any time. Flower stems are dried by placing them on open trays or hanging them tied together in bunches.
Tales of Lavender History
The Romans named this herb after the Latin term meaning “to wash,” lavare. The fresh clean scent was a favorite additive to their baths and other cleansing waters. Lavender was used to create sweet perfumes and oils. In the Middle Ages, lavender was strewn about for its insect repellent properties and its ability to mask strong distasteful odors. It was thrown into bonfires at midsummer as an offering to the gods and goddesses. It was hailed as an ingredient of love spells because its scent was said to attract men.
Historical accounts have it that lavender possessed the ability to ward off disease and pestilence. The glovers of Grasse who used lavender oil on their leather notably didn’t contract the plague. Victorian women known to swoon or faint carried lavender-scented handkerchiefs to revive themselves and raise their spirits. The 16th-century herbalist, William Turner, described it as remedy for head colds and a good mental relaxant.
Enjoy the Benefits of Lavender
The many and varied uses of lavender deliver abundant benefits to any user. Every facet of the fragrant perennial plant was used in ancient times denoting its popularity from flowers, leaves and stems to woven mysteries to promote relaxation, cleanliness, relief, love and healing. These all natural benefits of lavender and lavender oil are still greatly sought after and promoted today.
Sources:
Bremness, Lesley, The Complete Book of Herbs, the Penguin Group, 1988.
Keville, Kathi, The Illustrated Herb Encyclopedia, Mallard Press, 1991.
Craig, Diana and Harris, Sarah, The Companion Book of Herbs, Oceana, 1998.