[.ca] The Lavender Garden: Beautiful Varieties to Grow and Gather (ISBN 0811815706)

From Amazon.com:
If you consider yourself a lavender lover--that is to say, if you are mesmerized by the plant's delicious aroma, enchanted by its long, rich history, and passionate about its medicinal uses, The Lavender Garden is for you. This lovely book offers instructions on growing, maintaining, harvesting, and drying the plant. Author Robert Kourik includes a comprehensive profile of each variety including history, cultivation, bloom period, flower and foliage shapes, and landscape and culinary use--information that's most useful in determining which of the 16 varieties are right for one's garden. Each entry also contains suggestions on companion plantings that achieve the most aesthetic effect. The sections on craft projects and culinary uses are outstanding. Kourik offers simple instructions on making oils, potpourri, perfume, and pillows, and the ins and outs of cooking with lavender. Twelve recipes and a list of display gardens and seed sources round out the back of the book. If you are looking to grow your knowledge about varieties of lavender, or would like to foster a friend's interest, The Lavender Garden is sure to delight. --Karen Karleski

Tons of information and fascinating facts:
I purchased this book to determine which variety of lavender would be best for a new garden I was planning. Not only did it address my technical questions regarding each of the varieties, but it also unfolded this plant's fascinating history, diverse uses (including old European recipes for lavender flavored foods) and a has directory of lavender farms. Learning about the many varieties of lavender and their growing requirements is just the beginning of what this terrific book will reveal to you.

The Lavender Garden:
For Lavender lovers, this is an elegant text book with luscious photographs, lively & colorful fonts & a wealth of information on the botany, choosing, cultivation & crafting of this best-loved herb. Wondering what to give that gardening friend of yours? This is it! An Impressionistic bouquet of gorgeous photos & a worthy text for a lovely herb. Only my nose was left out - no scratch & sniff patches! ...

Lavender 101:
Lavender is a mysteriously elusive plant that encompasses many different facets of enjoyment. Botanists talk of color and leaf shape and ignore fragrance. Perfumists sniff the air for the sweetest smell. Landscapers push for the toughest or the smallest or the largest. And, gardeners want them all. The Lavender Garden sorts through some of the most asked questions and makes the task of choice a bit easier. Brief sections on choosing the right lavender, planting the lavender, pruning the lavenders, and using the lavenders provide just the right amount of information for the novice grower. Particularly useful are the tips garnered from folks who work with the plants. The craft and recipe section is enjoyable and answers those pesky questions, like when to cut and how to dry and what is a lavender wand. There are few points we couldn't embrace, like putting sand or gravel in the soil and using chemical fertilizer. But, overall the information is helpful in choosing the right plants for the right place and use. It is Lavender 101 and a great starting point for those just discovering lavender.

Exactly what I was hoping for:
Not only is it beautiful- not only is it well-written - it answered questions about the lavender collection I've been developing. Munstead? Hidcote? Ahh... I get it now!

A lovely book sure to make you fall in love with lavender...:
Mr. Kourik has provided thorough detail on all aspects of lavender - history, uses, species, cultivation and even recipes - in one gorgeous all-inclusive book. Beautiful photographs. Truly a pleasure to own. Heather Neill \i The Scentual Body