Weekly Pickings: 3 July 2024

We’ve had some much needed reprieve from the heat this week, with sprinklings of rain keeping us cool on the farm.

The lavender and wildflowers are shining through, despite the clouds. We’re being blessed with a bumper crop of flowers this year, with our angustifolia varieties looking particularly vibrant!

How is the lavender looking?

The early-flowering angustifolias continue to look fabulous – they’re in full bloom with an abundance of fragrant flowers, bringing the field into hues of pink, white, and blue as well as purple.

As expected, we are still waiting on the intermedia lavender varieties to flower. If you zoom in on the left-hand photo below, you will see the first few petals emerging out of the lavender heads. This is the sign that the full-bloom is on its way. In around two weeks’ time, the lavender heads will be covered in bright petals, and the field will be awash with bright purple.

How are the wildflowers and sunflowers looking?

A bit of rain is probably just what our wildflower areas needed! The conservation area is holding on to some gorgeous larkspurs, daisies, and buttercups, whilst the wildflower patch is just beginning to get going. You can see the deep blue cornflowers are some of the earliest ones out in that area.

The sunflowers continue to grow and grow. At this rate, they should be very tall indeed by the time they flower in August! We’ll keep you posted so you know exactly when they come out.

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Other News and Views

Have you had a go at the Hitchin Lavender stamp trail yet?

This family-fun activity is new for this season, with five stamps to find around the farm! Explore, collect your stamps, and complete the activities that go along with each one. We hope this will be fun for kids and adults alike, and should help everyone to see parts of the farm they might not have done otherwise!

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Check back for another update next week, lavender fans!