Lavender Fields Forever

I have two lavender bushes in my garden here on the Mediterranean coast. One is a straggly little clump that grows wild and one is of the type stoechas (the lavender with a little mohican tuft on the top) which I bought as a pot plant in Ikea and which has established itself very nicely in one of the flowerbeds overlooking the sea.

But neither, I discover, is the type of "true lavender" which will turn the countryside of Northern Provence bright purple for the coming month (in fact the straggly clump probably isn't lavender at all). There's quite a lot to this lavender business, as I discovered when researching my little lexicon on the subject. Click here to read more.