Re: 'Nother lavendar question

At 10:21 AM 5/2/2001 +0100, David Harrison wrote:
>I've just thought about your responses to my lavender question. Another
>question arises:
>
>The folks wanted this one as they'd heard it had potentially the strongest
>scent/oil for their soap production. Is there another lavender out there
>with a very strong aroma that might be suitable, that can be cultivated from
>seed?
>
>many thanks!
>
>Dave H

Hello Dave --

Is your folks' soap production for commercial purposes, or just for home 
use and gift-giving?  If it's the latter, maybe it would make sense for 
them to visit a garden store, sniff the different lavenders, and choose one 
based on their fragrance preference rather than oil production.  If their 
favorite is one that can be grown from seeds, they can do that.  Otherwise, 
they can buy one small plant for a pound or two (I would guess), and start 
many new plants later this summer from cuttings of that one plant.

On the other hand, if they're engaged in commercial soap production, I'm 
not sure how much helpful advice I can give :-).  It might be good to find 
out what species or cultivars other soap makers are using.  In just growing 
them in my home garden, I haven't noticed a difference in fragrance 
intensity between Grosso and the regular English Lavender (known by three 
different names: L. vera, L. angustifolia, and L.officinalis -- they all 
refer to the same species).  But I haven't paid close attention.  The other 
species of lavenders have distinctly different fragrances from the English 
ones, and from each other.  They are also *much* less floriferous, though, 
which means they would produce much less oil per plant (which might not be 
an issue for home use, but would be for commercial production, I would 
think.)   The English lavender can be grown from seeds, and has been bred 
for many years for flower production, and therefore oil production.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth :-).  I hope it's at least somewhat 
helpful, and not overly confusing!

-- Susannah
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