Lullaby Lavender

What's your favorite flower? Tulips are mine favorite appearance-wise, though in terms of health and therapeutic benefit, lavender is my healing flower of choice. 

Tulips surrounded by blue flowers that look a lot like lavender

Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is a versatile plant: you can eat it, smell it, and apply it topically. It is antiinflammatory (can be applied topically to acne when diluted with rosewater), a nervine (soothes the nerves; great to sniff when stressed), is anxiolytic (meaning it helps decrease anxiety), and assists with sleep (sleep with some dried lavender under your pillow (keep the buds contained in a sachet; I bought my sachet of dried lavender in the South of France, a place where lavender grows like weeds!) or spray some lavender essential oil (that has been mixed with water) into the bedroom before hitting the sack). 

Lavender infused foods (here is a raw lavender tart recipe) and drinks, like lemonade and tea are quite tasty too. When cooking with lavender, just make sure you buy food grade buds. I've got some lavender to use up, so you can expect a lavender baked good recipe on the blog soon.