L is for Lavender, Lilacs, Lupines, and Lettuce
Season 7, Episode 26, June 4, 2025
We are continuing our romp through the garden alphabet, so this week we talked about lavender, lilacs, leeks, and lettuce, along with a few other plants.
To listen a day early, click here. You can also watch us recording this via YouTube. If you do that, you’re a brave gardener.
Carol’s favorite was her geranium theater. Mine is still my pots on the deck.
Our flower topic was lavender, lupines, and lilacs. We also briefly mentioned ligularia (Farfugium japonicum.) If you feel like growing lavender from seed, Lavender 'Lady' an All-America Selection, might just be the ticket. I still love ‘Phenomenal’ lavender so much. I used The Money-Saving Garden Year: A Month-by-month Guide to a Great Garden that Costs by Anya Lautenbach (Amazon Link) to successfully propagate my lavender.
Carol and I both grow lilacs. We have common lilacs in common, and we both have ‘Miss Kim’, which is a Korean lilac. We don’t have the Bloomerang Lilac from Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs, but maybe you want one. All this lilac talk made Carol think of When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, by Walt Whitman.
We do not grow lupines. Is anyone successfully growing lupines? If so, leave a comment. However, I used to read Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney which is about lupines.
In the vegetable garden, it’s all about lettuce and leeks this week. It’s been a great lettuce year for both of us, which is wonderful. I tried to grow leeks, but I kinda failed.
Carol’s blog post on Growing Lettuce Like Its 1957 is full of great information. We also mentioned radishes. Mine have been terrible this year, but Carol’s French Breakfast radishes were successful.
On our bookshelf this week are two books Carol found.
The Complete Language of Herbs: A Definitive & Illustrated History by S. Theresa Dietz. (Amazon link) and Diary of a French Herb Garden, by Geraldene Holt (Amazon Link). She liked both books very much.
(Note, Carol said the herb garden in Diary of a French Herb Garden was created in 2002… that’s when the book came out. The garden was created a few years earlier.)
Our dirt was about How Gardening Can Help You Live Longer (from the BBC.) We knew we were on to something.
Our rabbit holes: Carol is researching Lucy Hooper, another Lost Lady of Garden Writing. She is also exploring the Bobby Approved app. It helps her choose healthier foods so she can eat better.
We’re also putting together Lego sets. I’m doing the Botanicals Orchid, and she finished the Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers.
That’s it for this week! Send us a question or a comment. We answer many of the questions on our episodes.
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