The temperature was quite warm, with just a slight breeze, when a carravan of cars brought the Bend art group to our lavender farm. The ladies soon scattered out around our gardens, some trying to find a bit of shade.  One artist found shade at the front of my little gift shoppe, and quickly began to relax and create beauty on her paper. We love watching these creative and insightful ladies paint our little bit of heaven!

A few days ago I booked an extremely special dinner date at our lavender farm, a marriage proposal dinner!

Wedding proposal

While the couple strolls through the lavender gardens, cutting their fresh bouquet for their table, the caterer sets the table with an appetizer and wine. When the couple returns to the patio, he plans to surprise her with a very special dinner, and then propose to her. The dinner is served, while the couple enjoys special moments together alone, among 1000’s of fragrant lovely lavender flowers in bloom. And the gorgeous backdrop view of Mt. Hood right behind them.  We were so excited to host this surprise event!

Private Dinner on the Patio

The future Bride n Groom

Large Lavender fresh wreath

Whew!!! Not a lot of relaxing for us…we’re in full swing harvesting of our Angustifolia “English” lavender. I’m busy harvesting the Angustifolia for our Culinary, “Signature Blend”, and for our dried English lavender potpourri. I am also making some large fresh lavender wreaths from several Lavandin hybrid (Lavandula intermedia) varieties that have just started blooming. These certified organic lavender wreaths will be sold in our retail cottage at our U-Pick farm, and on our web site, so place you order, because they  will be available soon and sell out quickly

Joe is busy cutting Angustifolia varieties, and distilling for our lovely Lavender Essential Oils. These oils are truly beautiful this year!! Some of our best ever!

Diane making fresh lavender wreaths

Oregon Lavender DAZE Festival

There are still some openings for our “Make your Own Lavender WREATH Class“.

We are busy prepping for our 6th Annual Oregon Lavender DAZE Festival on the 10th & 11th. Many jobs from clearing out the spent Lupine in our Wildflower section, and staking up our beautiful brilliant red Oriental Poppies. I’m blending up lots of batches of Foot Balm, X-treme Body Butter, and our famous Shea Butter Balm, all made w/unrefined Shea Butter. Also, packaging Culinary Lavender and Lavender Teas to stock up my Retail Shoppe. Along with all this event planning, I take time to ‘breathe deeply’ and Smile lots as I walk around our brilliant blooming lavender garden, and take in all the lovely array of colorful flowers!! We hope you are planning to come out and join us, and take time to relax from your busy life and breathe in, and enjoy our Valleys beauty in Lavender!

We still have some space left in our lavender wreath classes, contact diane at: hrlavender@gmail.com for registration.

Hope everyone is having a Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Dusk on the farm

Retail Shoppe

Today I took the day off from my lavender garden, to enjoy a lovely, relaxing facial & massage at “Strawberry Mountain” Spa/Salon. The tranquil experience began from the moment I stepped into the spa with the calming music, a cup of green tea, and a fresh rose on my heated spa chair.  Allove, was my lovely Esthetician, encouraging me to relax with the delicate, soothing, yet stimulating facial treatment, and massage.  It included facial massage, and also neck, shoulder, hand, arm massage, and gentle touch on my feet  I have extremely sensitive skin, and Allove was careful to personally choose , ‘just for me‘, each skincare product for my treatment.  The soothing aromas from the nourishing essential oil, herbal elixirs, and floral hydrosols, helped transcend me to a calming state inside, encouraging me to inhale deeply and release all my stress. I was so “Deeply Relax”!! I became rejuvenated, and refreshed, and my face never felt so beautiful! Thank you Allove, and all the staff at Strawberry Mountain for an excellent, relaxing spa treatment. You offer the highest quality of professional skincare spa treatment I’ve ever had!!

It’s all about celebrating our first English lavender in bloom!! I’ve cut several fresh bouquets of our earliest English varieties, Mt. Hood and Edgerton Blue, to use for the hands-on wand making class. These lovely ‘wands or ‘bottles’ are a Victorian sachet that are extremely fun to make, incorporating the basket weaving technique. They have been used to freshen linens and impart fragrance around the home for centuries.

We are starting to U-Pick lavender, and many customers enjoy strolling through the garden cutting from the many varieties of English lavender for a delightfully fragrant, beautiful lavender bouquet to take home. Saturday Ben Bonham was on site playing his folk, blues and garden music to liven up our party atmosphere. He’s such great fun!!

Have a wonderful weekend Father’s, and celebrate your family with us in the lavender fields, with a sample of our most famous ‘Lavender Ginger Apple Cider’, and Lavender Shortbread!!

Solstice Party on the u pick lavender farm

Click link below to see Ben Bonham playing at the Solstice Party!

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We had a tour group from Portland visit our farm this morning.  They reserved our tour package in advance for their group from Florida. The package included a garden tour, hands-on Lavender Wand class, and self-serve Lavender Tea and Lavender Scones, on our covered patio. During the garden tour I described the 70 different lavender varieties planted at our U-Pick farm. Many photos are always taken during the tour, especially of the wild flower section in the middle of the lavender garden.

If you would like information about tour packages feel free to send me an email.

Three ladies visited our lavender farm a few days ago from Bend. They mentioned that their art group would be coming in August to paint the lavender in bloom. After looking at our lavender starter plants for planting around their homes, they asked, “which ones are hardy to our zone 3-4″? I suggested the Angustifolia “English”, it’s the True Lavender, and most hardy.

Since the sun was out for the first time in three days, they asked if it would be OK if they set-up to paint… of course it would be alright! So on a beautiful sunny day, this is how it looked, painting in the flower garden

May 29th 2010

The amount of growth in 1 week of the Lavender and the Wildflowers is mind-boggling. The Wildflowers are now almost twice as big with hundreds more in bloom, and the Lavender has heading towards bloom a ton also!

Today I planted Calla Lilly’s; mixed colors and Summer Sunset, in two of our whiskey barrels. These will product an incredible splash of color next to 1000’s of lavender blooms, right in time for our Lavender Daze Festival, July 10th and 11th.

I’m already taking calls from people who want to participate in my ‘hands-on’, fresh lavender wreath class that I teach. This class must be preregistered, and paid for in advance, so be sure and call soon, because I book up quickly.  http://bit.ly/cq5gqf  This class isn’t just for women… I’ve have 3-4 guys join us in the class, and one gentleman was the first to complete his wreath I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the Lavender DAZE Festival, and making more lovely lavender wreaths together!

Making Lavender Wreaths

Cheers to flowers!