9 ways to grow and use lavender

When grown in the ideal conditions, lavender is a pretty and fragrant addition to any garden. Learn the best ways to grow it and its many uses around the home.

A Mediterranean herb that's usually winter hardy sports thin, fragrant, grey-green leaves and purple flowers in summer.

• It grows well in a sunny border with other herbs and flowers.
• The flowers also attract bees and other beneficial insects.

Dried lavender flowers and leaves are a delight in sachets, wreaths and potpourri.

Give lavender full sun and light, well-drained, slightly alkaline soil.

• Aid drainage in heavy soil by adding a layer of coarse sand or gravel to the base of the planting hole.
• Feed and water sparingly.
• Clean sand makes fine mulch for lavender.

With its airy texture and upright, slightly sprawling habit, lavender is an excellent choice for softening hard structural lines in the landscape.

• Plant it at the corners of buildings or steps, at the front or edges of raised beds, or along paths and terraces.

Lavender needs regular clipping to keep it from becoming leggy.

• In fall or early spring, remove the dead flower spikes and withered branches and shape new growth to form a bushy silhouette.

If a plant appears dead in spring, wait a while in case new stems emerge from the base when the weather becomes warmer.

• Harvest lavender for drying when the buds just open, or you can wait until they're in full bloom.
• Dry stems in bundles in a cool, airy spot.

• In the laundry, put dried lavender flowers on a handkerchief, tie it tightly, and toss it into the dryer.

Your clothes will emerge perfumed with a light herbal scent.

Lavender is a prime ingredient in potpourri and is especially nice combined with rose petals. Folklore holds that a little bag of dried blooms slipped inside your pillowcase will help you sleep.

• To make sachets, fill handkerchiefs or tea napkins with petals and tie them with pretty ribbons.

• Clip a bunch of blossoming sprigs about 15 centimetres long and use thin ribbon to bind the stems together into a cigar-shaped bundle.

Use this "wand" to freshen closets and drawers or slip it onto a shelf in a bathroom cabinet.

For a festive occasion, sprinkle dried lavender stems into the fireplace. As they burn, they'll delicately scent the air.

Sprinkle lavender blooms into the tub or add them to a footbath to soothe, scent, and refresh your skin.