Lavender

Another botanical.

I have a bunch of lavender in my back garden. Smells divine. Much of my garden is scented. What doesn't smell perfume-y is eye-popping colour. It's a good combination, I think.

Often when I am out surveying the landscape, I will brush my hands over the leaves to activate the scent and then bring the perfume up to my nose. Ah. Lovely and calming.

I used to make lavender wands. I still can - I haven't lost the knowledge. I just haven't done it in a while. One or two of my drawers have wands to keep away the moths. I should probalby refresh them. Trouble is ... there's only one time of year that the lavendar is suitable for wand making and I fear we have passed that point. Lavender in full bloom now. Oh well. Maybe next year if I think of it.

This is done with a .5 pen nib. Too thick and the images have ended up kind of clumpy and heavy-handed.

I really love the orange throat to the florettes. Not something you expect from a purple flower. Also, I love the complexity of how the flower unfurls ... there is sort of a sting-ray formation for the little florette pods (second from R).

One final random note about lavender. I have a hell of a time spelling it and calendar. The words are almost identical but one is "ER" and one is "AR" ... for reasons that remain completely obscure to me. Having said that - I can never remember which is which.

Hm ... didn't put the latin down for this one, either. Science work is never done ... ! ...