starting plants from cuttings

[asly]

Yes! they should do ok in pots, but BIG pots as they like lots of room. I'm curious about drying lavender there, it takes about 3 weeks to dry bundles of lavender on our farm in WA, and only about 3 days here in MT. I wonder if bundles ever dry in the Puna area...

[Carey]

Just gotta plan the lavender drying to a dry spell here ;~)

We do have weeks that are dry, only problem is that you realize that we have had one AFTER it has past!

Of course you could always twist the arm of a Kona friend to hang the scented bouquets up...

[asly]

Wonder if they would dry in a closet with a dehumidifyer(sp?) left on?

[Liz]

That would probably work, Ann, and it would make the closet smell lovely! Or, if there's only a small amount, you could use a food dehydrator. Of course, either way, it'll reabsorb moisture once it's out of the closet...

aloha, Liz

"The best things in life aren't things."

[asly]

Yes, that's what I was thinking too. No matter what you did to dry the bundles, they would just absorb moisture once back out. Do you have any dried flower arrangements there? I notice that once we dry bundles at our farm in WA, I bring them out to MT and they dry even more, they almost loose half of their size and get really brittle.

Hey Liz, did you try the lavender spritzer on your pillow - to promote restful sleep??? Maybe after your trip??

We have a new lavender we are now growing called Hidcote Giant - oh is it lovely.

[Liz]

Ann, I love that little spritzer and yes, I do spritz my pillow with it. Ahhhh, sweet dreams just about guaranteed! ;-)

Btw, I left all my dried flower arrangements - some really nice ones, too - with a friend back in Idaho. I knew they wouldn't do well here.


So, if grown under the eaves & in pots as suggested above, one might grow lavender hereabouts for use in edibles, right? That'd be worth it to me.

aloha, Liz

"The best things in life aren't things."

[Carey]

I noticed that Kalapana Cafe (old Vernas) in Kaimu has some lavender, along with many other wonderfully aromatic herbs, growing along the side if their building

[asly]

Liz, gotta have the right variety for culinary lavender, many of the english garden varieties or angustifolias are edible with pleasant taste. We grow Royal Velvet as our culinary variety and Melissa - both very nice in flavor. If you can't find any let me know. My friend in Sequim is a commercial grower and send many plants to Hawaii to start Ali Kula Lavender Farm on Maui.

Thanks for the info Carey, snip snip snip :-) Just joking, but I might ask them if I could take a cutting if their plant was huge and doing well. I like to eat there and loved their little gardens they were creating.

[emorata]

liz you might want to check paradise plants...they regularly get edible lavendar from maui and you can request it and they will email/call when a shipment is in.



Noel Morata
Check out my blog about living aloha in East Hawaii http://noelmorata.blogspot.com/

[Liz]

Oh cool Ann & Noel, I didn't know there were specific varieties for culinary uses. Learning something new every day! ;-)

aloha, Liz

"The best things in life aren't things."