Sue Kidd is the Lifestyle Editor at The News Tribune and the ringleader for the Home&Garden section. She is a decent vegetable gardener, but occasionally a tragic mess at growing other stuff. She’ll blog about gardening events, gadgets, her weird obsession with guerrilla gardening and all her assorted garden disasters. E-mail her with thoughts/rants/questions/bizarre observations. sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com.
"Starting seeds, dreading weeds."
You Grow Girl
"Gardening for the people."
Between Plow and Wood
"Meditations on farming, nature, food, art, sustainability, the environment and rural living."
Downtown Tomatoes
"A gardening club for the rest of us."
- All
- Ahhh, that's adorable (62)
- Broccoli (19)
- Community Gardening (54)
- Dilemmas (63)
- Field trip! (15)
- Fix my yard! (17)
- Flowers (43)
- Garden books (10)
- Garden catalogs (1)
- Gardening events (58)
- Gardening News (43)
- Gardening with kids (12)
- Guerrilla Gardening (1)
- Herbs (9)
- Introductions (5)
- Leona Lisa's amazing grass challenge (1)
- New plants on the market (6)
- New products (7)
- Organic gardening (18)
- Peppers (2)
- Point Defiance flower show (28)
- Q & A (33)
- Reader garden pics (2)
- Soil building (7)
- Tomatoes (41)
- Vegetables (44)
- Weeds (3)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | Current | > >> | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
- February 2009 (1)
- January 2009 (1)
- October 2008 (8)
- September 2008 (15)
- August 2008 (18)
- July 2008 (23)
- June 2008 (36)
- May 2008 (20)
- April 2008 (14)
- March 2008 (16)
- February 2008 (16)
- January 2008 (8)
- More...
XML Feeds- excile
- artman77
- Guest Users: 546
If you can't get over to Vashon or Sequim for lavender, there is a closer option.
Stringtown Farms and Winery in Eatonville will open for U-cut lavender tomorrow. Details from the farm's press release:
Open: Beginning Saturday, July 19, 2008, until about mid-August (depending on the weather).
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Bloom Report: The early blooming Purple Bouquet and Ana Luisa (English lavenders) will be at their p eak for opening day. The later lavenders, including Grosso and Edelweiss (white), should reach their full bloom later in July.
Plants: Both field grown lavender plants and small nursery plants in the various lavender varieties will be available for sale.
Stringtown Farms/Stringtown Cellars
9121 Stringtown Road
Eatonville, Washington 98328
360.832.4743
stringtownfarm@aol.com
www.stringtownfarms.com
Cynthia Johnson bought her farm, Fox Farm, on Vashon for a respite from her busy day job as an obstetrician. The lavender obsession came later after a trip to France and a landscaping project hooked her.
She remembers a moment one morning in her garden that changed her from just a gardener to a lavender horticulturist and farmer. “The sun was just coming up. I saw these bees sleeping on the lavender blooms. As the sun warmed it up, it was magic. I just fell in love with it. Now when I go out to pick, I just can’t stop picking.”
She started propagating lavender, even coming up with her own kinda sorta variety (she and other Vashon lavender growers aren’t sure what it is, so she calls it ‘fox farm,’ named after her farm). She grows dozens of different varieties. Her farm is one of three opening Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Vashon Lavender Farm Tour (see info box for details).
Johnson classifies four categories of her favorite lavenders: Lavandula angustifolia; L. x intermedia. Lavandula stoechas and Lavandula dentata. Click the "read more" box below to see how she explains the two kinds she primarily grows and sells, angustifolias and intermedias.
The Vashon Lavender Farm Tour
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Three Vashon farms, Fox Farm (17232 107th S.W.), Lavender Sister’s Farm (16335 Crescent Drive S.W.) and Lavender Hill Farm (10425 S.W. 238th St.)
Cost: $5 (free for children 18 and younger). Tickets available at the farms. Proceeds benefit the Vashon Youth Council.
Transportation: A free shuttle bus will offer transportation for the 9:15 a.m. ferry at the north ferry dock that goes to the three farms and the Tahlequah ferry dock. For ferry schedules, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.
Information: www.vashonlavender.com or call 206-463-3115
The Sequim Lavender Festival
There is another lavender festival this weekend in addition to the Vashon lavender festival. Here are details:
What: Sequim Lavender Festival
When: Friday through Sunday
Where: Various farms and locations in and around Sequim
Tickets: $15 (12 and younger admitted free)
Info: www.lavenderfestival.com or 1-877-681-3035
Here is a pretty picture of lavender taken in Craig Sailor's North Tacoma garden.
