Lavender gifts

Forget the duster and have a cuppa instead. The lavender lady is inspired - the lavender and the lady complement each other beautifully.

Totally agree -housework is for winter! All look lovely

I love your lavender lady, Scotsgran, a perfect match, and much more interesting than housework. That's what rainy days are for :)

Yes, I agree Scotsgran...have a cuppa ! You can always do the housework when it rains ! The Lavender lady is lovely.

Duster...... What's a Duster? ;)
That really does look great. You'll be glad you didn't give it away now.

I love Lavender. It's nice that you've got some you can pick from your garden :)
My mother always used to put it in little bags and hang it in the wardrobes, but I haven't got any here in this garden.
I did sew some seeds this year, and they are doing well so far, so I hope they'll flower for me some time.
I didn't realise it lasted that long after being picked ...

Thank you all for your lovely compliments. The inspiration came from a demonstration day run by a neighbour in aid of a charity. The ladies who did the demonstration used dried flowers but did say it could be lavender. I could not find the duster but the kettle was singing so a cuppa it was. Just ask your mum about the duster Scottish I'm sure she will be happy to introduce you to one and she might give you a lesson on how it works. I am glad I did not give the lady away. I bought a few to paint at our china clay painting class. I did manage to do some of them and they were useful presents. Hywel any small container will do and lavender grows quickly in to decent size plants so you should have some flowers next year. My plants are all straggly from my neglect of them so I plan to take some cuttings. I use lavender bags in the linen cupboard and in my wardrobe. I use cloves in bags in OH's wardrobe.

Those are lovely, Scotsgran.

I always put lavender stems in the porch in Summer, and leave them until the following year. They still have some scent when I replace them (though if they are brushed against they do tend to drop seeds when they are old and very dry)

Thank you Mel. These were dropping bits off too frequently. I used to have seven different types of lavender in the patio area. Only these are left. They do really need to be cut back hard in autumn to keep them looking tidy but my garden is a bit like the house, overfilled and always needing some attention. Lol.

Sounds exactly like mine, Scotsgran (house and garden!) Interesting, though, isn't it?!

I have four lavender plants in the herb bed. I usually replace them every five years or so. Even cutting them back in autumn only seems to be really effective for so long. Mind you, I always plant the ordinary Angustifolia, which does tend to get very big. It's my favourite, though.

Cloves ?

Yes Hywel dried cloves. The kind sold in spice shops. You may know the scent from Oil of cloves used to treat the pain of toothache. I have used them to stick into oranges to make a pomander. (They have a sharp point at one end of a 1.5cm stalk. The clove tree is an evergreen that grows up to 8–12 m tall, with large leaves and sanguine flowers grouped in terminal clusters. The flower buds initially have a pale hue, gradually turn green, then transition to a bright red when ready for harvest. Cloves are harvested at 1.5–2.0 cm long, and consist of a long calyx that terminates in four spreading sepals, and four unopened petals that form a small central ball). The above was gleaned from Wikipedia web site.

Thank you :) I've never heard of them being used in wardrobes before :)

Pomanders were used to hang in wardrobes but the job of making them can be time consuming. I found my OH liked the clove scent so just put them in a muslin bag to hang on a coathanger. Apparently they deter ants but I cannot verify that as we have never had ants indoors.

It obviously works, then, Scotsgran! ;-)

lol.