A lavender birthday

My birthday was this past week so, like any good pseudo-gardener, I bought myself a garden toy.  Of course, there were a few plant purchases and a fairly large internet order I plan to place when the temps drop, but my power-toy purchase was more of a need than a want.

My new hedge trimmer 

You see, I love lavender.  And that can create a problem.  Which it has.  Those diminutive 4 inch pots of silvery-blue scented loveliness quickly turned into 6 foot-wide mounds of all-reaching, shin-scratching, path-obliterating messiness.  They still smell lovely, though, or their days would be numbered.

The 5-foot wide walkway is nearly covered.  

In the only nod to formal organization in the front garden, years ago I lined the path to the side of the house with lavender.  Since the plants were tiny and cheap, I actually planted them before the stone path was installed.  Originally, they were a good 3 feet apart and some 20 inches from the walkway, but no more.

What walkway?

For the past few years, I've been cutting back the lavender with garden shears, but it is tedious, back-breaking work that I have to do over the course of several days.  With the electrical hedge trimmer, though, I was able to get most of the job done in just half an hour.

What a difference!

It still needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I need a longer cord to finish the left side.  Plus, next time I will definitely wear a back brace.  But, I am very happy with the results and discovered an added benefit: although not exceedingly loud, it scares even the yappiest of dogs into silence. 

Still needs some work.

And, of course, look what I forgot!

Going native

Spanish lavender and wildflowers

May is the time for Spanish lavender to bloom (lavandula stoechas), but you have to know where to look for it.  It loves growing near rocks, on rocky slopes, or even in the cracks of rock formations themselves.  It can survive in the poorest soil imaginable, and thrive!

  Here is lavandula stoechas in its natural habitat on a craggy incline behind our property.  The tall grasses are esparto, which are used in basket-weaving and to make the soles of espadrilles. 

Here is a plant next to a dirt road that seems to have been pruned into a topiary shape

by passing off-road vehicles.

 

 

Don't these little guys remind you of the Easter Bunny?

 

 

The first (and smallest) of the Spanish thistles are in bloom.

 

      

And just when you think that all of LaMancha's wildflowers are purple...

 

 

... you look up to find yourself in a sea of yellow.