The Lavender Farm was inspired by the amazing growth of the Heterophylla planted in the herb garden by "The Shed" at Yacca Paddock Vineyards .

As I gazed out of the back of the workshop there was a little paddock - empty!

I envisaged it filled with lavender.   So after the usual mammoth research and visiting various lavender growers on the Fleurieu I ordered twelve different varieties for my experimental paddock.

I pondered, with family and a couple of friends, how long could twelve hundred lavender plants take to plant?

My friends standing valiantly in wait by the paddock cowed as they saw me breast the rise of the vineyard followed by a Pantechnic which had travelled from Victoria with my plants.   Was it disappointment or relief on their faces when the driver pulled out my seedling trays with the largest lavender being two inches tall?

Well it wasn't done in a day, but more than a week of hard work, not quite the idyll I   had fantasised.

Starting with the smallest at the bottom of the hill we followed the curve of the land, The tiny pale pink Coconut Ice, the very French Maillette and the delicious Avice Hill (which one can eat) Monet, Grosso, Seal and Impress Purple with Candicans and French Lavender forming a protection at the top of the hill.

For the first two years they sat there and laughed at me as they retained their form in miniature and then with a burst in 2003 the Impress Purple was stunning with its fragrant perfume.   Carefully picked, bunched, and dried by the Yacca Paddock Lavender farmers Jethro Heysen-Hicks and Anna Bishop, the lavender farm was underway.

In 2005 the whole paddock has come into its own   and we are now evaluating the viability of each particular variety.

The fragrance is heavenly and the bees love it.

Thanks to the original crew who made the fantasy a reality.

Petrine Quist, George Dridan, Scott Hicks, Scott Heysen, Jethro Heysen-Hicks, Jenny Porter, James Jennings, Hope Madigan and Anna Bishop.

 

Yacca Paddock Vineyards Lavender Farm

Member The Australian Lavender Group

Member Australian Lavender Industry