Bags Of Lavender

Prized by Egyptians and the Romans, lavender has a special history in Britain as well. Anne Swithinbank offers her choice of the best varieties for you to grow

- Anne Swithinbank

RESIDENTS of Lavender Hill, near Clapham Junction in London, must find it hard to believe that their homes are built on land once farmed to meet London’s demand for lavender flowers and oil. The watercolour Battersea Fields from 1848, by Robert Westall, shows a view over farmland with the brand-new Battersea pumping station (built in 1840) in the distance.

Lavender and its oil had been an important commercial product of Hitchin, Mitcham and Carshalton since the 1500s. Small lavender ‘farms’ still exist up and down the country, and are well worth a summer visit to admire seas of aromatic, shimmering purple. Plants are easy to grow at home, are resistant to slugs, snails, rabbits and deer – and now is a good time to add more.

A herb of antiquity, lavender was prized by the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians, while the ancient Greeks appreciated its medicinal properties and passed them on to the Romans, who travelled with lavender for wound dressings and bathing. The name derives from Latin lavare (to wash). Long after the Romans decamped from Britain, lavender was a staple of monastery gardens and for centuries folk depended on it for freshening clothes and warding off fleas and bed bugs.

English lavender