10 easy ways to use lavender

Lavandula Angustifolia blooms in July and August – here are some ideas on how to use lavender at home. © Gut Guntrams

Lavandula loves dry soil and warmth – making it the perfect plant for your summer garden! You don’t have to go to Provence in France to see beautiful lavender fields – lavender also grows in Germany, England, Austria, the USA and many other countries.

Lavender fields in Austria

At our Green Pearls partnerⓇ Gut Guntrams near Vienna, they mow the lavender twice in midsummer. “The flowers are dried and placed in linen bags. Each guest is allowed to take their “Lavendelsackerl” home as a gift,” they tell us.

Gut Guntrams nachhaltige Unterkunft in Österreich — © Gut Guntrams

Nicht nur zum Museumstag 2023 ein Besuch wert: Der Kristallgarten im Naturgut Guntrams mit Blick auf die Orangerie — ©Herbert Lehmann for Gut Guntrams

10 ideas for using Lavender dry and fresh

#1 Lavenderbag- (or “sackerl”, as at Gut Guntrams): You can hang one in your closet to repel moths.
#2 Lavender tea: Pour hot water over fresh or dried flowers and steep for ten minutes. It’s calming and good for digestion.
#3 Wound-healing decoction: You can apply the tea decoction to inflamed skin areas with absorbent cotton to aid in wound healing.

Caution: If you are going to use it as a remedy, make sure it is real lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia)! The bouquet from the florist is often commercially grown hybrid lavender (Lavendin). This has less fragrance and fewer active ingredients.

#4 Lavender Vinegar: Place blossoms in a small bottle, fill with white wine vinegar, and let steep for three weeks. It goes well with salads, for example.
#5 Lavendersalt (mix coarse salt with pepper, rosemary and lavender flowers and use for Mediterranean cooking and frying)
#6 Flowersugar (mix sugar with dried flowers to add flavor to desserts and sweets)
#7 Bookmark (dried with stem and flower)
#8 Gift decoration – simply tie a small bouquet to the gift, which the recipient can then hang upside down to dry.
#9 Bread-Topping: A sandwich or sandwich with goat cheese or (vegan) cream cheese can be spiced up with a few flower-sprinkles.
#10 On desserts, meringue or cakes as a floral decoration.

Note: Because of the intense aroma, use it sparingly.

Looking for more inspiration for your floral kitchen? Check out the following blog post to see how chefs from sustainable hotel restaurants are using flowers in their kitchen.