Lavender - growing your own is not only better for our health, but our planet as well.

Lavender plants can work wonders on your mental health. You just need to know which plant to get and where to put it.

Here’s our guide.

Stress, noise, worries, lack of sleep… the start of a new year is always a mix of excitement about starting a new season and is fatigue related to all the adjustments that are involved. In your arsenal of tools and tactics for staying calm and improving your well-being, lavender plants can prove to be a precious resource. Lavender plants can boost your wellbeing.

If you’re anything like us, stress (or lets be honest, even panic) is taking up a lot of mental space. So to help us calm down and stay zen, lets look at what lavender plants can do for us, in herbal tea, in decorative planters or in essential oil, they can help us relieve tension and soothe the mind.

Dried Flowers and Closets

When it comes to scents, lavender is high on the list for calming. It can be placed in the entrance for a sensory atmosphere that imbues a peaceful vibe as soon as you walk in the door. The balcony or the windows are also great spots to place them. If you really don’t have the space, you can slip some in to small fabric bags and tuck them into a closet or drawer, or for scenting the kitchen by putting them in little pots with earth. A great aromatic herb in the kitchen, lavender is great in baked products, ice creams and even in some savoury dishes. Lavender flowers are also amazing for making lavender tea with to improve mood disorders. Lavender is widely used as an aromatherapy agent and supplement to help with anxiety, depression and fatigue. Lavender helps boost sleep, soothe mental cramping and improves skin health.

Hanging Plants For The Bathroom

When it comes to making the bathtub or shower a relaxing haven, look to lavender plants which grow quickly, spread humidity and freshness, placing lavender in a hanging basket is also a favourite. In addition to decorating a piece of furniture or a bookcase, they can be placed on the edge of a bathtub or shower. The bathroom is also a good place to keep a branch of dried lavender of which you can get a delightful whiff when you run the water, dried lavender in a muslin bag thrown in the bath is a great way to infuse your bath water with lavender.

Lavender Flowers For The Living Room And The Bedroom

Choose your seasonal favourites, fresh lavender plants, dried bags of lavender or my favourite is lavender wands placed on my pillow, for sure. But, for calm and appeasement, look to the elegance of lavender wreaths, and on a hot summers night the smell is amazing and in any case, offering a pretty bouquet of freshly cut seasonal lavender flowers or a lavender plant provides sensory pleasure to both the giver and the recipient.

Why creating and nurturing a lavender therapy garden has many reciprocal benefits for the mind and body.

The power of plants - therapy gardens are becoming increasingly common, as gardening becomes recognised and valued for its therapeutic and restorative qualities, the benefits from spending time in a more therapeutic outdoor space are innumerable.

You can design your own lavender garden to suit your particular physical or mental health needs. Whether you’re in a stressful job and need time to relax or let go of anxiety, there are ways to tweak your outdoor space to make it work for you and for your family and friends.

For me, my lavender garden is meditative, when I'm working in nature, I feel grounded in the moment. A lavender garden is great because it has something for all five senses - smell, sight, sound, taste and touch. A single pot of lavender in a simple kitchen herb garden might also appeal to your nose or taste buds.

Plants don’t judge people, they just respond to the level of care you give them, which is powerful. When you go into the garden after a stressful day, you can feel everything start to slow down. Your breathing deepens and your heart rate slows.

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to set foot outdoors to enjoy the benefits of a therapy garden.

You can use lavender indoors, in your office space, bedroom, kitchen or any other area where you feel you’d benefit from a little nurturing through nature.

We are surrounded by lavender plants in our office and regularly take mindful breaks throughout the day to tend and water them.

I build caring for my lavender plants into my work day. In moments of uncertainty, we return to nature. As humans we have a primal urge to work with the earth. Lavender is visually appealing. with its soft silvery foliage topped with dense flower spikes, it comes in different shades of colour - from white or pink to purple or blue, as well as the aroma, is lovely relaxing and sedative.