Lavender Sachets

 In my previous post you saw my lavender bushes and how they look like when on full bloom. Now lets take a look at how we can utilize those fragrant florets.

My English lavender usually blooms twice - in summer and late fall. I noticed that the second blooming period usually do not produce much flowers as the plants get older.

I took the below picture today and you can see how different it looks compared to the photos on my previous post.

The first step is to cut the flower stalks and let them dry. You can either hang them to dry or leave it in a vase to dry. Depending on how hot it gets where you live, it could take a few weeks to couple of months. Here in NY I left mine for about 8-12 weeks hanging above my work bench in the garage.

Once the flowers are dry you can also gift them to your friends as dry flowers. Make sure you start with a thick bunch of flowers as once they are completely dry it will shrink in size. 

The next step is to rub those dried stalk between your fingers so all the little dried florets would come loose. I use a flat tray for this. Also at this stage remove the larger bits of dried stalks. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this step.

Next step fill the sachets with the dried lavender flowers. If you are wondering where I got the sachets from, I bought them from Joann a couple of years ago for about 4 dollars for a dozen sachets. They are cotton and can be washed and reused. Cotton is a very breathable fabric so it will disperse the scent better than other fabric types like polyester or nylon.

Draw the strings of the sachet tight. This year I ended up with about 5 sachets. I didn't cut all my flowers though as I left about half of them in the bushes for the bees and butterflies.

You can leave these sachets in your sock drawers or in your winter clothes storage containers for that amazing lavender fragrance. I also leave then in my car for that fresh lavender fragrance. It also repels pests like moths and silver fish that attack your wool and silk. The scent usually last years and if you think it is fading simply squeeze the sachets to crush the flowers inside. It will release the scent again.