Honeysuckle Cottage

“Lavender's blue, diddle diddle,
Lavender's green;
When I am king, diddle diddle
You shall be queen.”
English Nursery Rhyme 1805

Scroll down for the Catalogue of our Varieties for sale. Please note we supply well grown and hardened plants, not small tube stock. These have been propagated asexually so that they are true to name, not by seed which would result in very variable and not infrequently inferior forms. Many listed are rare to very rare in Australia, and are either heritage varieties or imported varieties, many from Provence.

Lavender is a special plant in the garden. No other plant that we know of that can so effectively create a misty cool haze on a hot summer day. The veil of lavender colour it draws across the heat of midsummer that is as refreshing and quieting to the eye as its fragrance is to the mind. The soft grey foliage is the perfect foil to the flowers. No plant is more able to instil a feeling of continuity and serenity to a garden.

We use lavender to scent bedlinens for the most refreshing sleep, and store it with winter clothes to help prevent moth-attack (add dried lemon and camphor scented southernwood and cotton lavender to dried lavender to make a delightfully scented and effective moth repellent mixture to place in sachets). Use lavender to make wonderfully fragrant toiletries and household items (you will find lots of recipes in Judyth’s book ‘Health and Beauty with Australian Plants’ published by Simon and Schuster, available from Honeysuckle Cottage for $19.95 plus $5.00 postage anywhere in Australia). Tuck sprigs of fresh lavender flowers into tussie mussies (an Elizabethan term for sniffing posies composed of fragrant materials) as a gift for friends or departing house guests, or place in a fragrant welcoming vase in the bathroom or on your office desk . Use bathbags containing lavender for the most deeply relaxing of baths and to ease aching muscles, and like Queen Elizabeth I of England use lavender to make a gentle fragrant tea sweetened with honey to relieve tension headaches. Sleep on a pillow scented with lavender, or tuck a genuine lavender sleep pillow underneath your regular pillow. The soporific effects of lavender are well attested.

English lavender has so many medicinal applications in its gentle flowers that it is the herb of all herbs we would never be without. Much research has been carried out to confirm its effectivenes, and in France the oil is often the first item stored in the First Aid cabinet. it is known in the United States as the Swiss Army Knife of herbs due to its wide range of important uses. It has been demonstrated to be a powerful antifungal, is antibiotic in activity, and acts as an anti-toxin for some classes of poisons. And next time there is a ruckus in the room, whether you are a school teacher, a tired parent, or a long suffering friend, unobtrusively open a bottle of lavender oil and relax. World War III will miraculously quiet in minutes!

Lavender was one of the most popular of culinary herbs in England in past centuries, and has always been favored in France. Now it is the height of culinary fashion in places as diverse as California and France and is used to flavour all manner of delicious dishes from ice creams and shortbreads to Provencal dishes, salads, and long summer drinks. And of course it has always been the mysterious je ne sais quoi ingredient in ‘Herbes de Provence’, that miraculouss culinary herb mixture that lifts so many dishes out of the ordinary.

Lavender All Year Round
Queen Elizabeth I demanded, most unreasonably as any gardener can testify, that she be supplied with fresh lavender at all times of the year. However, it is possible to span most of the year with lavenders by planting different botanical groups. The year both ends and begins with the Intermedia lavenders. These arose from natural hybridisation between the lower altitude species Spike Lavender L. spicata and the higher altitude species, popularly known asTrue Lavender L. angustifolia. Both are fragrant (the Romans were fond of L. spica for their baths), and it resembles True Lavender other than that the spikes are ‘winged’, producing lateral branches of flowers from the same point on the flowering stem. The scent is quite camphoraceous but still definitely of lavender. The Hybrid Lavenders, or Lavandins as they are known in France, share the ‘winged’ flower spike characteristic of low altitude lavender, have an intermediate calyx form to the parents, and while they are deliciously lavender scented retain some of the camphor scent of the lowland parent. Lavandins occur naturally on the hillsides of Provence where Spike Lavender and True Lavender meet, and selected forms must be propagated by cutting. Lavandins make up by far the largest part of the commercial lavender crops grown around the world. Even in France, around 90% of the crop consists of Lavandin varieties, mainly ‘Grosso’, and the oil finds its way into an amazing array of toiletries and other products. Lavandins may produce a lesser quality oil than True Lavender, but they produce twice the volume of oil, and will grow happily in places with cool as opposed to cold winters, and are generally much larger bushes, ideal for landscaping.. With us, Spike Lavender can begin flowering in October, and the Lavandins begin to follow soon after, often being in full flower in November. Then it is the turn of the True Lavender varieties from mid-December to the end of January or early February.

The French or Dentata varieties of lavender are rarely out of flower year round for us, and the flowers have long been popular for sale in bunches in florist shops as they are very pretty, lavender fragrant, and produced over such a long period. They are also very good landscape plants, grow well in large pots, and are happy at low altitudes, although high humidity can shorten their lives. Hybrid lavenders such as ‘Allardii’ and ‘African Pride’ flower predominantly in late spring and summer, and make excellent taller lavender hedges. The Stoechas (pronounced steekass) lavenders begin their flowering in mid-winter to late winter with varieties like ‘Winter Delight’, and reach their full glory in the months of spring and early summer, most making a second spectacular display through the autumn. One way or another, Queen Elizabeth I might well have been graciously pleased.

Drought Tolerance
Lavenders should be given full sun, are evergreen, and very easy on water usage once established. Never let a lavender droop too long. They take tough conditions better than most plants, originating as they do from dry hot sunny places around the Mediterranean. But if they are not watered when drooping, they may dry past their ability to recover. .By the way, as with all plants we sell, our lavenders are well grown, fully hardened off, and substantial in size, not tube grown plants.

True or English Lavender Lavendula angustifolia
True or so called English Lavender originates from higher altitudes in places like the Alpes de Haut-Provence in France. Many varieties have been selected by the lavender oil industry, and by gardeners, over the centuries as this species yields the highest quality lavender oils in then world. The flowers dry to yield very high quality dried lavender for sweet sachets and pot pourri. Few lovelier additions to a garden exist than a hedge or garden edging of true lavender,or even a potful or two.

Ashdown Forest This is an exceptional variety that impressed us greatly in the UK. It is particularly floriferous, forming a densely rounded, cushion-like bush to 60cm which covers in spikes of clear, bright blue flowers that are very fragrant, excellent dried, and are excellent for culinary use. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Chase's Munstead We couldn't believe how intensely fragrant this variety is. It makes a compact medium sized plant to 40-60 cm with abundant spikes of mauve flowers. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Egerton Blue This is a striking variety with bright violet blue flowers contrasting with silvery grey foliage, It has excellent fragrance and is also one of the varieties recommended for cooking with lavender. It was bred at Yuulong Lavender Farm in Victoria in the early 1980s and forms a tall well shaped bush to 90 cm. It has been used for lavender essential oil extraction. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Hidcote Carlisle An exceptionally good semi-dwarf form of English Lavender reaching 70 cm high and wide, bearing prolific dense spikes of very fragrant deep purple flowers. The foliage is silvery grey. This is the true form of Hidcote, propagated to type, so that the colour and height is even, unlike the variable seed grown forms often offered. It performs very well over a wide range of growing conditions.	$7.95
Hidcote Pink beautiful neat variety with silvery green foliage and profuse, very sweetly scented, blossom pink flowers. Charming.	$7.95
Little Lottie syn. Claro This is the smallest of the pink flowered lavenders. it forms a tight bun-like mounding bush with masses of dainty clear pink flower spikes with lovely fragrance. it makes an ideal choice for growing in containers or in a small garden.	$7.95
Maillette This is the beloved true lavender most commonly grown in the high fields of the Alpes de Haute Provence. It is a very tough and hardy variety with prolific long stemmed spikes of lavender blue flowers that are highly scented, and it gives good yields of excellent quality lavender oil that is particularly favoured for aromatherapy. The bush is of medium size with green foliage. Rare.	$8.50
Miss Katherine This was Judyth's personal selection in her revised and expanded international selling book Lavender Sweet Lavender as the Best of the Best lavender cultivar released in the last decade.It forms a very healthy, medium sized, upright, very floriferous bush to 70 cm with greyish-green foliage.It is easily identified even at a distance by its extraordinary, clear lilac pink colour that glows even on an overcast day.It has a delightful sweet fragrance. Miss Katherine was released by Norfolk Lavender in the UK.	$8.50
Miss Muffet Miss Muffet would have loved to sit on this densely cushioned and very fragrant lavender bush. It makes a compact plant ideal for growing in pots and small gardens, and has clear rich purple flowers.	$7.95
Munstead syn. Munstead Dwarf This is a form of English Lavender that Gertrude Jekyll used for edging paths. It was named for her garden at Munstead in England, and is a low growing compact form that smothers in a haze of lavender blue flowers which are both bluer and earlier than most forms. The foliage is compact, narrow, and grey-green. Lovely for edging and spilling over paths and embankments.	$7.50
Nana Alba or Dwarf White An exquisite rare dwarf variety with green foliage and a profusion of pure ice white flowers with ethereal sweet fragrance. Queen Henrietta Maria, the 'Cavalier Queen', to whom John Parkinson dedicated that most delightful of all garden books 'Paradisi in Sole' caused "great and large borders of white lavender" to be planted at the Manor in Wimbledon. Henrietta was the daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie di Medici and believed strongly in the virtues of all herbs, especially of lavender. She would have loved this French variety.	$7.95
Nana Purpurea syn. Atropurpurea This is an old (prior to 1923) and now rare lavender from England with excellent cold hardiness.It forms a neat bush to 60-70 cm, is very prolific in flowering, with very fragrant ,clear bright violet flower spikes.This variety is very ornamental and also popular for use in dried lavender products. Temporarily unavailable	$7.50
Pacific Blue This variety is of French origin, imported into New Zealand principally for superfine lavender oil production. It makes a medium sized densely mounded bush with prolific flower spikes of bright violet blue with delightful fragrance.	$7.95
Rosea syn. Pink and Munstead Pink This is one of the loveliest of all lavenders bearing fragrant flowers the same tender pink colour as the gills of a freshly opened field mushroom. The foliage is silvery grey. 'Rosea' was introduced into cultivation before 1937.	$7.95
Sarah This variety is very popular in the United states both as an ornamental garden plant, and for drying. It forms a medium sized bush to 60 cm with long flower spikes of rich deep lavender blue borne on elegant stems.	$7.95
Twickel Purple syn Twickes Purple One of the oldest varieties still grown, of excellent fragrance, bearing masses of long flower spikes. The flower spikes borne on long strong stems are a rich deep violet with violet-green calyces. The bush reaches 60-70cm high and wide.	$7.95

Lavandin or Intermedia Lavender
Lavendula x intermedia
Lavandins are the mainstay of the French lavender oil industry, stronger growing in general than English lavender but very close in form and some expertise is needed to tell them apart. The oil is higher in volume, and in the varieties listed below, yield a high quality commercial lavender oil. Hardier than English lavender from which they are naturally hybridized, lavandins are in general easier to grow both in the garden and for lavender farming. The scent is still pure delightful lavender with a hint of camphor. Lavandins thrive in Australia and are the solution to growing lavender in lower altitude gardens and higher humidity. They are also highly successful for many lavender farmers as their major crop, especially in France, California, and Australia.

Abriallii syn. Abrialis, Abrial, Eureka This is an excellent field lavender from Provence, grown since the early 1930s.It forms a tall compact shrub to 80 cm bearing abundant, slender, elegant, very fragrant lavender blue flower spikes. It produces an excellent commercial oil. Rare.	$8.50
Grosso Outstandingly fragrant and renowned for the sweetness of its oil in the perfumery trade., this variety originated in France. 'Grosso' has very abundant tall plump spikes of deep lavender flowers acclaimed for their beauty and elegant clean fragrance. It is the most commonly field grown lavender in France, and American chefs consider this to also be one of the finest cooking lavenders.	$6.95
Impress Purple We first saw this lavender in the National Lavender Collection of the U.K. The very abundant rich purple flower spikes have an exceptional depth of colour and excellent fragrance, and are carried on a neat bush. It is excellent as a dried lavender, beautiful in the garden, and grown for essential oil extraction in both New Zealand and Australia. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Provence Named for the lavender producing area of southern France, this variety has become a major field grown lavender in northern California. It makes a large dense silvery grey bush which is exceptional for the fragrance of both its silver-grey foliage and its flowers. It is used as an ornamental, for bunching, for craft work and as a culinary lavender. It bears prolific long stemmed flower spikes which are violet-blue when in bud opening to lavender. Rare. Temporarily unavailable	$8.50
Rocky Hall Margaret syn. Margaret A sturdy, large variety to 85 cm when in flower with prolific long spikes of very fragrant purple flowers borne on long stems. It is ideal for craft work and for hedging and ornamental use.	$7.95
Seal This variety was selected from lavender farms at Hitchin, the once famous lavender growing district of England, and subsequently disseminated by the famed Herb farm at Seal in Kent before 1955. It is exceptional for colour, productivity, and excellent fragrance. The bush reaches 90cm in height and the abundant flowers are a delightful rich mid-purple, Up to 1200-1400 spikes per mature bush have been counted.	$7.95
Sumian Originally grown in France for lavender oil production, this variety forms a grey- green bushy shrub to 80cm, and bears with great freedom exceptionally long, strong, spikes of bright violet flowers with excellent sweet fragrance. It is used also as an ornamental, and for use in craft work.	$8.50
Super A tetraploid lavandin favoured in France for its excellent yield of quality lavender oil and very widely grown commerically. It is exceptionally fragrant, dries well, and its long flower stems up to 50cm are making it excellent for craft work.	$7.95

Other Lavender Species
There are lots of other fragrant and beautiful lavender species. They all thrive in full sun and are very well suited indeed to Australia’s heat and dryness. An all year round garden filled with lavender alone could be incredibly diverse, filled with a wonderful range of forms and flowers, colours, textures, foliage types and fragrances. Almost all perform wonderfully in tubs and large pots, attracting bees and butterflies to the garden. While those listed here are regularly stocked in the nursery, we often have other types available so do inquire.

L. canariensis Canary Island Lavender or Mato Risco A rare and beautiful lavender that has deeply divided dark green smooth foliage with a scent of fresh cedar wood blended with sweet lavender. It is a profuse bloomer particularly in the cooler months of the year bearing very long lived tall branched spikes of bright lavender blue flowers.	$8.50
Green Lavender L. viridis This lavender is green all over. The soft bright green shrub smothers in flower spikes like those of Italian lavender but with tiny citron-cream flowers on green with lovely April green bracts. The fragrance is a lavender-rosemary-balsam cross, delicious and refreshing both fresh and dried. This species comes from the Pyrenees.	$7.95
L. dentata var. candicans Grey French L.dentata var. candicans Hardy and vigorous, this lavender has finely toothed grey foliage and grows into a large handsome vigorous shrub. This is the bunching lavender of florists and flowers almost continuously throughout the year. The lavender coloured flowers are borne in plump compressed spikes topped by a tuft of flaglike lavender bracts. Both flowers and leaves are very fragrant.	$7.50
L. dentata Linda Ligon This beautiful new American variety forms a medium sized bush with creamy-gold variegation in the finely incised foliage, and bears fragrant spikes of violet flowers with soft clear purple bracts.It needs protection in heavy frost areas. Rare.	$7.95
L. dentata Monet A lovely medium sized variety with fragrant foliage and profuse sweetly fragrant flower spikes in deep lavender blue.	$7.95
L. dentata Pure Harmony This is a lovely newly released (PBR) form of French Lavender with pure white flowers and white terminal bracts, forming a substantial bush to 1.5m high and wide, with sweet refreshing lavender-and-camphor scented foliage. Temporarily unavailable	$7.50

Italian or Spanish or Gentle French lavender or Quasti Lavendula stoechas
This is an excellent lavender for sunny Australian gardens, upright growing and covered with silvery- grey needlelike foliage which is aromatic when fresh but becomes intensely aromatic and refreshing when dried smelling of rosemary and lavender. The flowers are a delight, deepest purple arranged in neat rows on a pineapple-like inflorescence. The deep terminal bracts are large gay flags perched on top of the spike. Varieties of L. stoechas flower at the end of winter and through spring.<>br We have a number of varieties and hybrids of Italian Lavender. Those listed below are currently available and many others are usually available at the nursery:

L. x heterophylla Antipodes An excellent and exceptionally strong grower to around 80-90 cm with very sweetly fragrant long spikes of purple flowers. Perfect for Australia's conditions.	$8.50
Avon View A robust upright grower with grey green foliage forming a large well rounded bush with profuse compact flower spikes. The flowers are a rich dark blue while the sterile bracts a glowing violet. Very reliable. The foliage has a sweet camphor-lavender scent with a touch of cedar.	$7.95
Ballymaloe White This gorgeous pure white flowered form is a seedling selection of L. stoechas subsp. leucantha made by by Dr J. McLeod from a gift of seed grown in the beautiful herb garden of Ballymaloe in the far south of Ireland and named in its honour. It is a very compact, low, neat grower bearing masses of short-stemmed pure white inflorescences each with white bracts. Pine and lavender scented. Rare. Temporarily unavailable	$8.50
Kew Red This is a very fine dwarf cultivar raised by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England. It grows to approximately 40cm forming a neat green subshrub bearing abundant plump spikes of deep strawberry-crimson flowers with strawberry-cerise bracts that fade to clear light pink. It is featured on our Home Page. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Lavender and Lace This is surely one of the loveliest of all the L. stoechas varieties. It makes a good sized bush, smothering in long stemmed plump spikes of lavender with lacy, frilled, clear lavender terminal bracts. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Major We fell in love with this splendid variety in California where it was used extensively at the Huntington Museum and its gardens. Despite intense heat, it was ravishing. We grow it in large pots in the nursery where it forms a really tidy medium sized bush smothered in flower spikes from early spring to mid-summer. The plump large spikes are a glowing lavender and sweetly fragrant.	$7.95
Marshwood This is a true charmer, vigorous and healthy, forming a substantial bush to 90 cm, and flowering prolifically. The flower spikes are dense, plump, and unusually large, with purple flowers and soft lilac pink terminal bracts. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Ploughman's Purple An excellent variety forming a dense medium grey-green bush ,and bearing a profusion of long stemmed spikes of deep violet- blue flowers with bright violet bracts.	$7.95
Somerset Mist This is one of our greatest favourites (not least because of our long long affair with ancient Somerset and Avalon). It forms a good strong mint- and- lavender scented bush, and the flowers borne from September onwards are quite exrtaordinary, of lavender as if seen through a green-grey mist. Quite magical. Temporarily unavailable	$7.95
Spikenard or Spike L. latifolia syn. L.spica This species occurs at lower altitudes in Provence, France and is a handsome species resembling English lavender with silvery-grey foliage and long branched inflorescences of dark purple flowers which are richly fragrant of lavender with a sweet camphor element. The oil is used commercially, particularly in soaps. Temporarily unavailable	$6.95
Sugar Plum This is a New Zealand variety forrming a green foliaged spreading plant bearing prolific rich plum colouredspikes, the flowers being deep blue and the bracts suffused with red-violet. The blooms are particularly beautiful in the late afternoon light.	$7.95
L. x heterophylla Riverina James or Sweet Lavender One of the finest garden lavenders forming a bush to one metre high and wide, densely foliaged, grey-green and aromatic. It commences flowering in early summer with masses of long stemmed spikes of very sweetly scented deep lavender blue flowers that are wonderful for use fresh or dried in craft work. Perfectly adapted to Australian conditions when grown in a sunny well drained position. It is believed to be a natural hybrid of True Lavender. Rare	$8.50
Tickled Pink A beautiful strong growing and very reliable variety forming a medium bush. The profuse spikes of flowers are topped with charming clear pink large terminal bracts making a wonderful show.	$7.95

Lavender Products From The Stillroom at Honeysuckle Cottage
Surround yourself with the sweet fragrance of lavender, enjoy delicious organically grown lavender tea, and immerse yourself in the fragrant world of lavender.

PLEASE NOTE: the prices quoted include both the item itself AND postage anywhere within Australia.
We are happy to mail these products abroad if ordered on a credit card (Visa card, American Express, or Mastercard) but will oncharge the postage (at cost).

Finest Quality French Essential Lavender Oil This is the finest quality essential oil of lavender harvested from organic lavender farms of the True Lavender L. angustifolia at over 1,000 m in the Alpes de Haute-Provence region of France. Few ever have the opportunity to use lavender oil of this superb quality which is sold as Lavande Fine. (The vast majority of lavender oil sold worldwide is harvested from Intermedia lavenders grown at lower altitudes.) This oil has very high, pure, sweet notes lacking any trace of the camphor which is characteristic of most commercial lavender oils. It has been imported directly by us from one of the finest distillers in Provence. The price is high compared to standard oils but we believe that it is well worth it, particularly for aromatherapy use. 15 ml bottles of oil including postage	$20.00
Lavender and Damask Rose Sleep Pillow The sweetest dreams and gentlest sleep come from this sleep pillow made by Honeysuckle Cottage, filled with our own summer harvests of lavender flowers , Damask roses, sweet scented apple mint, lemon verbena, rose geranium , apple scented chamomile and other herbs all gathered from our mountain gardens. The pillows are made from an exquisite fabrics featuring old-fashioned roses and are far larger than any other sleep pillows we have seen, measuring approximately 28 cm x 20 cm , and unlike most imported sleep pillows are filled with freshly dried botanicals with maximum fragrance and activity all of which have been grown organically. These pillows also make the perfect gift for a traveller, helping overcome jetlag and assisting in-flight sleep with their gentle sleep inducing powers. And sleep comes easier too in that procession of strange hotel beds. ($25.00 when purchased directly at the nursery shop)	$30.00
Sweet Lavender Bags These beautiful generous bags are made from a delightful crisply striped lavender and white quality fabric and finished with a matching lavender bow. They are absolutely filled with freshly harvested lavender and will add their clean sweet fragrance to linens. Try pinning them on the headrest of armchairs, or to a pillow in a guest room. They make a thoughtful gift for someone who is ill, bringing cool fresh fragrance to a sick room , or for someone who suffers travel sickness. A friend recommends hanging a sachet in the car. In traffic jams she clenches the bag to release tension, and also to release the calming scent of lavender. A long distance commuter, she swears by her lavender bag to maintain sanity. price includes postage	$15.00

Would you like to explore more of the Honeysuckle Cottage website filled with huge collections of rare heirloom flowers, gourmet herbs and vegetables, seeds, fragrant and useful herbs, and masses of fascinating articles? Then click here.