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The main crop of 9,500 plants consists of Lavendula x-intermedia
"Miss Donnington" and "Grosso". Both these
plants are grown for the dry flower.
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Harvesting, which takes place mid January each year, is done by hand
with a sickle in the traditional manner. The harvest takes from 6
to 8 weeks, depending on the weather. The flower is cut and
bunched in the paddock, then transported to the drying shed where it is
hung to dry, this usually takes less than a week at that time of
year.
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Harvesting with a hand sickle in the
traditional way
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The majority of our bunches, approximately 20,000, are stripped and
sold as loose lavender, or used to make our individual blends of pot
pourii. The remainder are left bunched, and sold in our gift shop,
by mail order, through our wholesale outlets, or here online.
At present only small distillations of oil are undertaken from
specific plants being trialled on the farm for camphor content, quality
and optimum oil production. It is hoped that oil production will
become part of our farm in the near future on land currently being
purchased for this purpose.
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We have a number of display gardens each containing 2 different types
of lavender. This enables us to have lavender in flower all
year. |
White and blue lavender
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There are also extensive perennial gardens for our visitors
to wander through or sit amongst whilst enjoying the views, the
bird-life, the peace & quiet, and of course, the gardens
themselves.
The more energetic may decide to stroll up the hill to look
back at the bird's eye view of the lavender fields, gardens and
surrounding country with snow-capped Mt Hotham in the distance. |
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