Smell This!

No, really. You’ll like it.

Tis that time of year where I head off to Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm for the annual Sequim Lavender Festival happening the 16th, 17th, and 18th of this month. And what better time than now for me to plug my parent’s farm.

I won’t tell you about the quite amazing farm cats, the most amazing burger mastered by my pop, the fact that, yes, upon entering Sequim, the skies do open and it IS sunny (even though a cloud may be dumping on your head on the mainland), the adorable quail babies…

… but the flowers…. will… be… fantastic…. Especially this year, the flowers have all been preparing themselves to be ripe with beauty just about the time you and I roll in. I stopped by last week to take a few pics of what you can expect.

This Folgate lavender is one of the most vivid purples and is our best culinary lavender. It is also a great landscape plant! That’s green santolina in the back.

Green Santolina ready to burst.

This plant is Ballotia. It is organized into fuzzy tiers of a beautiful mint/ light lime color. I love this plant because of its long lasting beauty. It’s received a large serving of neglect in my yard and has performed wonderfully. I love using this plant in bouquets.

This plant was new to me. I’ve never noticed it before. It’s burnet and is edible like a lot of the plants in Cedarbrook’s Garden. My parent’s use herbs from their gardens for cooking and garnishing the dishes in their restaurant.

Some weird curry? Smells like it. I tried using this in a floral arrangement last year. No bueno. But it does look great in the landscape.

Fennel! Delicious AND beautiful.

This is another of my all time faves. AND Cedarbrook is the only place I’ve ever seen it sold. It is an ornamental oregano called ‘Kent Beauty’. It is so lovely that people gasp when they walk by it. It is so delicate and fabulous in hot spots and containers.

More Folgate (an angustifolia, by the way).

With the recent heat, I bet these peonies will be popped. The peonies on this farm are nearing forty years old. Forty years. And I’m fairly certain it gets nearly no maintenance. Its roots are probably shakin’ roots (that’s how plants meet, right?) with the heritage pear clear across the garden.

This adorable little Spanish lavender is tender but so cute in containers. It is L. stoechas ‘Pinnata’.

Here is a more robust Spanish Lavender with flower heads like big fat bumble bees. Which reminds me, bees love lavender but fear not! Through years of wrassling bee laden lavender plants at harvest time (sometimes up to 40 bees per plant), I have yet to be stung. Our honey guy says they are drunk off of nectar and if you are nice about shoo-ing the happy flyer, they don’t bother you.

This is one of my favorite lavenders. It is L. angustifolia ‘Royal Velvet’. I love its mid length stem, great landscape size, and neatly organized whorls of buds.

You say agressive, I say easy to grow. I never get sick of Stachys.

Thyme! Again with the delicious and beautiful.

The flowers and festivities are worth checking out. And where will I be during all this? Spreading landscape design advice? Creating gorgeous flower arrangements? No. You will find me at the food hut pushing sammies, herbed sodas, and lavender lattes. They will also be delicious and beautiful.

Tags: Cedarbrook Lavender Farm, farm weddings, folgate, lavender, lavender festival, sequim, spanish lavender