Last Saturday the annual Lavender Festival was held at the Denver Botanical Garden’s Chatfield Farms location. Having had a terrific time last year (click here for a flashback), I wanted to check it out again this year. It was hot but heavenly and I wasn’t disappointed.
Last year’s festival featured around 800 lavender plants. This year the festival featured nearly 2000. From white to pale pink, to blue and purple, there’s something for everyone to love. I’m all about the dark purples and the darker the better, but every single plant was a stunner. And that divine fragrance…swoon. As I walked through the rows, I was struck by the mesmerizing effect this incredible plant has on people. In an age where everyone seems to be constantly jockeying to get ahead of everyone else, people were kinder, gentler and just more consider to one another. It was a pleasure being there, even amongst a huge crowd. Knowing it would be a warm day, I had arrived 30 minutes after the festival opened thinking I could avoid the crowds. But the crowd was already so large, a sheriff’s deputy ‘kindly’ blocked me just as it was my turn to turn onto the access road leading toward the entrance. Harumph…dude, should I bring you back a big bunch of lavender to lighten up your cantankerousness, I grumbled to myself, in between HBO words.
Us plebeians were directed to the backside of Chatfield and I began to wonder if I’d need 4-wheel drive to cross through that back-forty pasture. Up, down, swerving back and forth to avoid small car swallowing ruts, I traversed the access road to find myself in the middle of a fallow pasture that had been turned into a temporary parking lot. At least I had sense enough to wear close-toed shoes unlike many who were clad in low-heeled sandals whose feet were going to be dirty in a matter of seconds as we hiked through the dusty pasture toward the pick up area where ‘farm limos’ waited to whisk us closer to the entrance. Look out Uber, you’ve got some serious competition out there.
Near the ticket booth, I was greeted to a picture perfect, blue-sky day guaranteed to lower the aggravation quotient.
Having pre-purchased my ticket the day before, I didn’t have to stand in the 50+ deep ticket line and made my way toward nirvana. Despite being early in the day, I was surprised there was already a sizable queue at the wine and spiked cider tents. I like wine with the best of ’em, but if you are in need of an alcoholic beverage at 9:30 in the morning, you definitely could benefit from wandering through rows of lavender in which to mellow out.
Lavender does surprisingly well in arid Colorado and English lavender in particular, is quite cold-hardy and generally thought to have strongest fragrance over its French and Spanish cousins. Lavender’s overall health benefits and healing properties were discovered more than 2,500 years ago. A powerful antioxidant with antimicrobial and sedative properties, the Greeks were the first to experiment with this natural remedy and soon the Romans and Egyptians were on board. Many monarchs in Europe made lavender widely popular. Lavender’s underlying chemistry allows for the diversity in its many medical to culinary uses, with a range of biochemicals, terpenes, and acetates accounting for the healing properties of lavender. Okay, enough with science and history of this awesome plant, let’s check out the festival.
Hope you enjoyed the festival as much as I did. Have a great weekend!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Wished we could grow lavender here. I love those flowers. I bought a variety once that should have been to withstand our weather. Well, it didn’t in my yard.
😊
Lavender likes good drainage and sometimes that’s hard to achieve.
Beautiful flowers and festival.
A great festival with beautiful flowers and people.
As I read this, I started to think that I could smell lavender! Isn’t it funny how our brains can do that? Absolutely wonderful photos of the flowers… Recently our neighborhood email group was discussing whether we can grow lavender up here. The conclusion was “yes”, if you put it in a pot and bring it in when it gets cold. Maybe I’ll try it!
Lavender has that effect on peeps! Good luck with the potting. A nice sunny area and it should do nicely. Happy Sunday.
How absolutely wonderful! I would love to attend a lavender festival. I love the smell. My daughter’s new home has lavender so I’m going to send her this post. Thanks for sharing. ♥
Thanks, M.K. You can never have too much lavender in my opinion. 😊
What a great festival! I would love going to that. The truth is, I’ve never cared much for lavender scent. BUT, I’m not sure I’ve ever smelled the flower itself! I’ve only smelled lavender-scented products. I bought some lavender seeds this year to try to grow some, but they never took. So I’m still on the search to smell real lavender and see if I like the real thing!
I think the leaves and stem have every bit of fragrance as the flowers. Don’t feel bad, I’ve never been able to grow it from seed and just let it reseed itself wherever. 😇
I love lavender, but I am allergic to it, and one of my dogs is too. We did photos in a lavender field last year and both of us ended up sounding like we had colds by the end of the shoot. Much as we love how it looks, won’t be doing that again any time soon.
Being allergic to lavender would be catastrophic for me. Although I know I get plugged up breathing in some lavender scented air fresheners.
I can almost smell all of it😉🐾
HuMom & I are pawfectly thrilled by your pics & experience.
Thank you for sharing it🐾
💜nose nudges💜
Mommy said she bet the smell was incredible, we enjoyed the pictures. She tried to grow some lavender here but it didn’t like our wet.
Yes, I cannot help but brush the stems to release that heavenly scent with every opportunity. Lavender likes sunny, well-drained conditions to survive. If you have those, you should be able to grow it.
I can almost smell the lavender looking at these photos! I’ve tried growing several varieties but have never been successful. Maybe it doesn’t like the humid summers here in the midwest.
I laughed about your comment about wine at 9:30 in morning. Yes, sounds like these folks might benefit from more lavender!
There are lavender farms in the Midwest but plants need well drained conditions to survive the humidity that we lack here in Colorado. As for the wine so early, I couldn’t help but think ‘wow!’ I love a good red but 9:30 AM is not the time to break it out.
How interesting, Monika. I was not aware so many kinds of lavender.
Jean
Lavender here is mostly dependent on how it will winter over; not all varieties can stand the cold winters. I learned there are about 450 different varieties. Sounds like heaven on earth to me! 😍
Alcohol at 9:30am…you say that like it’s a bad thing. 😁 Pretty pictures!
Ummm, yeah. About that. Mimosas at a brunch ok, but hard cider or beer at 9:30…puleez. 😊
Soooooooo beautiful!!!! I also love lavender!
What’s not to love about that iconic scent. And with it’s medical properties, I can see why lavender is sometimes called the king of essential oils.
Wine, Whiskey pops and legal weed. “Rocky Mountain High”.
They don’t call it “Colorful Colorado” for nothing.
🤣 I guess that’s a fair assessment.
I had no idea there were so many varieties of lavender!! Certainly can’t beat the smell.
I think I read there are over 450 different varieties!
How timely! Today, my wife and 3 of her friends when to a local lavender farm!!!! https://www.onederings.com/
Paradise in my books!
Ah, lavender! My favorite color – purple – and my favorite scent! Have you ever been to the lavender farm in Hawaii? I can’t remember the name of the place, but I used to buy a lot of stuff from them until the shipping costs doubled.
Ooh, I’ve not but if it’s on the Big Island, I’ll be checking it out since my son lives there.
If I remember correctly, it’s on Maui. But it’s been several years – Callie was still healthy at the time.
Maybe one day I’ll get there. Till then, a trip with my son and his family will have to suffice as a suitable substitute. Hope Shadow is doing well in her stem trial. I thought of you guys when we’re on our morning walks the other day and am sending ‘pawsitive’ healing thoughts.
Aw, thanks! Actually, Shadow is doing great, mobility-wise. Unfortunately, right now her sensitive nature is causing stress poops. We are trying doggy Imodium and a lower dose of the probiotic chews to get her “system” back to normal. I hate that we have to use chemicals; but the CBD oil gel caps are only helping with the arthritis inflammation, not her sensitive emotions.
Oh, sweet girl. Hope she feels better soon. And you too!
I have many lavendar plants in my yard, as it is a drought tolerant plant–and droughts are common these days. They are mixed in with mainly salvia and penstimon, also drought tolerant. I have every color of lavendar except pink, even yellow. My yard blooms all year around and attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds galore.
Color me JEALOUS! If only my own lavenders were ‘active’ all year. Still I often pinch the leaves in the non-growing season just to release the fragrance. I get some volunteers that come up in inconvenient spots and either leave them or transplant to a better spot. Lavender is my favorite garden plant!
Great stroll’s worth of stories and images! Lavender is such a silky comfort.
Many thanks. It’s one that hits the senses with such force and one that is most welcome. I can never have too much of lavender’s erthereal scent.
And it’s so versatile. From tea to sachets to whatever you wish.
Medicinally and culinarily…it’s so versatile. Sam and I always ‘wear’ it whenever we go to West Pines. It helps keep the patients more calm and was especially needed this week in anticipation of the lunar eclipse which can adversely affect mental health patients.
You guys rock the casbah, tell you what!
We’re all about safety first. For us and the patients and if it helps them, it’ll be helpful for us. Always good to have a more mellow environment when dealing with unknown strangers. For both sides. 😊
You speak the truth. 🙂
I’m sure I didn’t enjoy the festival nearly as much as you did, but I can almost smell the lavender from here. Think I’ll drop some of that essential oil in my atomizer when I get home. 🙂
There’s something about seeing those plants that almost triggers the olfactory senses. Essential oil is a nice second best option. Happy weekend.
It was not my day to wander but next year… and I am now really interested in finding some pink lavender plants, as well as the English variety to put around our house. We have such a wind tunnel it would be glorious if the wind carried a scent of calm with it.
The pinks are pretty pale (almost white) and not nearly as fragrant as purples (Hidcote, a dark purple & Munstead, a paler one are tops in frangrance).
Awesome pictures! <3
Aw, thank you. It helps when you have awesome plants to showcase. 😉 Happy weekend.
Having a great eye is the most important thing! 😉 Happy weekend to you!
☺️ Blush, blush.
I miss lavender…
I would miss it too if it weren’t around.
Thanks for the “virtual stroll” through the festival! Enjoyed it and glad that you had a great time. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend too!
Happy you came along. I can almost smell that glorious scent when I look through the images. Happy weekend to you and yours.
Yes, same here. Love the scent! 🙂
Me too!
🙂 Makes you smile and feel relaxed!
It’s definitely my feel good plant.
🙂 I need some of them to have around the house.
Luckily, finding bundles of lavender stalks or buds is fairly simple. I may have to walk out in the garden and cut a few myself! That and crank up the diffuser with lavender essential oil. 😉
Oh yes those diffusers are nice!
The next best thing to the real plant in my books.
🙂
Whiskey pops!?!? I think someone must have been huffing the flowers for too long…
I think it must be something trendy among millennials. Whiskey everything, especially when you can make money on it. 😇
For some reason, when I think of whiskey, I don’t think of millennials. Whiskey reminds me more of people from the previous turn of the century…
Hard spirits are very much back in fashion. I cannot believe the proliferation of whiskey bars around town.
It was only a few days ago that I was wondering if our deer would eat Lavender or would leave it alone. I need to figure that out, because it would really be lovely to have some in the garden.
Deer tend to resist plants with strong scents. Sage, ornamental salvia, and lavender are supposedly “stinky” to deer. 😊
Thanks for the advice. 🙂
oh I wish I could be there too… and how great your lavender look… you should see our creepy goners… maybe the better home for that purple beauties is in the US ;O)
My own lavender isn’t quite up to the farm’s standards, but I love brushing against its leaves along the stone path. It would probably be better if the yard wasn’t so shaded. But I’ll take it any way I can.
Love … love … love … Lavender! 🙂
Me too, Colin and this was such a fun festival to check out.
I have a small bag of dried lavendar in my bedroom, and when it has accumulated some dust, I give it a good shake in front of an air intake/return air vent (for the heat/air system). The furnace filter traps the dust, and the lavender aroma is distributed throughout the house! Wonderful! 🙂
Clever!
🙂