The Lavender Garden: Beautiful Varieties to Grow and Gather [Hardcover]

Robert Kourik (Author), Deborah Jones (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Gorgeously fragrant, invigorating, and rich with healing properties, lavender has been cultivated from the beginning of recorded civilization. Today, gardeners everywhere are discovering that growing lavender is a simple and wonderfully rewarding pleasure. The Lavender Garden is a beautiful guide to planting and using this versatile herb in all its forms. There is a variety of lavender to suit almost any setting, indoors and out, and here garden expert Robert Kourik profiles 16 of his favorites. From sky blue to dark violet varieties, he explains which will thrive in dry climates, which are perfect for arrangements, which will fill an entire room with a delightfully romantic fragrance. Once ready to harvest, readers can turn to recipes and directions for baking lavender desserts and breads, preparing lavender teas and syrups, arranging sheaves of lavender into delicate wands (a perfect gift), and even making lavender bath oils and perfumes. Now you don't have to live in the South of France to enjoy the sweet smell and subtle beauty of lavender.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you consider yourself a lavender lover--that is to say, if you are mesmerized by the plant's delicious aroma, enchanted by its long, rich history, and passionate about its medicinal uses, The Lavender Garden is for you. This lovely book offers instructions on growing, maintaining, harvesting, and drying the plant. Author Robert Kourik includes a comprehensive profile of each variety including history, cultivation, bloom period, flower and foliage shapes, and landscape and culinary use--information that's most useful in determining which of the 16 varieties are right for one's garden. Each entry also contains suggestions on companion plantings that achieve the most aesthetic effect.

The sections on craft projects and culinary uses are outstanding. Kourik offers simple instructions on making oils, potpourri, perfume, and pillows, and the ins and outs of cooking with lavender. Twelve recipes and a list of display gardens and seed sources round out the back of the book. If you are looking to grow your knowledge about varieties of lavender, or would like to foster a friend's interest, The Lavender Garden is sure to delight. --Karen Karleski

Review

"Lavender is hot-that's what friends in northern California have been telling me. A year ago, you aspired to a personal olive grove and your own first virgin cold press. But now those in the know are planting fields of lavender You'll be doing it, too, my sources assured me. Not me, I thought, smug with Yankee conservatism. Then I visited Sonoma County...

Kourik has been growing lavender in 12 species and dozens of horticultural strains for more than 20 years, and he notes that some form of this herb will grow any place in North America where winter temperatures don't drop below oF (north of that, Kourik recommends it as a pot plant). Still, as a group, lavenders struck me as the ultimate Californian plants: elegant, sensual, and almost effortless.' -- Conde Nast House and Garden

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811815706
• ISBN-13: 978-0811815703
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #846,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lavender 101, July 12, 2000

By 

V.J. Billings - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lavender Garden: Beautiful Varieties to Grow and Gather (Hardcover)

Lavender is a mysteriously elusive plant that encompasses many different facets of enjoyment. Botanists talk of color and leaf shape and ignore fragrance. Perfumists sniff the air for the sweetest smell. Landscapers push for the toughest or the smallest or the largest. And, gardeners want them all. The Lavender Garden sorts through some of the most asked questions and makes the task of choice a bit easier. Brief sections on choosing the right lavender, planting the lavender, pruning the lavenders, and using the lavenders provide just the right amount of information for the novice grower.   Particularly useful are the tips garnered from folks who work with the plants. The craft and recipe section is enjoyable and answers those pesky questions, like when to cut and how to dry and what is a lavender wand.  There are few points we couldn't embrace, like putting sand or gravel in the soil and using chemical fertilizer. But, overall the information is helpful in choosing the right plants for the right place and use.  It is Lavender 101 and a great starting point for those just discovering lavender.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tons of information and fascinating facts, August 5, 2000

By 

Rebecca Green - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lavender Garden: Beautiful Varieties to Grow and Gather (Hardcover)

I purchased this book to determine which variety of lavender would be best for a new garden I was planning. Not only did it address my technical questions regarding each of the varieties, but it also unfolded this plant's fascinating history, diverse uses (including old European recipes for lavender flavored foods) and a has directory of lavender farms. Learning about the many varieties of lavender and their growing requirements is just the beginning of what this terrific book will reveal to you.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST books on the subject, February 14, 2006

By 

MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lavender Garden: Beautiful Varieties to Grow and Gather (Hardcover)

Grew up with vast fields of French lavender as a child and lavender is a daily part of my life still. Love this book because it gives so much useful information on soil requirements, watering and best type of lavender to grow where you live. There is also a great recipe section in the back part of the book with the Buttermilk Lavender Bread and Lavender Lemon Shortbread (which is a cookie) being two recipes that even the most manly of men would even enjoy. Beginning on page 112 the author has given a Farms and Garden listing for throughout the states Canada that carry lavender items. On page 116 the author provides a good map of the United States and the different growing zones for those interested in growing lavender. Will also note the book is beautiful and one that I love to simply pick up and re-read often.