Lavender farms have firmly taken root, and more growers are experimenting with unusual crops across the Bluebonnet region

Story by Eric Webb  l  Photos by Laura Skelding

It's Saturday morning, and you’ve filled your farmers market bag with the staples — tomatoes, carrots, melons, peppers and a few fresh herbs. Now your wandering eye spots something surprising — pomegranates, figs, turmeric, tea from a native plant and an assortment of fragrant flowers.

Those and other interesting items are popping up at farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants and farmers’ online shops in the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area. 

More growers across the Bluebonnet region are experimenting with unusual crops

Some growers want to diversify their operations. Others are willing to invest sweat equity into cultivating something different (like the lavender farms profiled on the following pages). Some turn a common native plant, like yaupon holly leaves, into tea. 

Then there are flower fans, such as the folks at Antique Rose Emporium in Washington County, who keep Texas’ oldest rose varieties thriving.

“When you think of a small farm or ranch, they may only be able to sustain a handful of livestock,” said Chase Brooke, a specialist on small farms and ranches for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. 

“Each farm and ranch is a connection for that community,” Brooke said. The popularity of farm-to-table restaurants in both small towns and big cities proves those connections are valuable.

John Grange is Burleson County’s agent for the extension service. For more than a decade, he has studied the county’s farming and ranching community, overseen the farmers market, and advised both new and established producers on everything from weed management and livestock care to getting the most out of their property. 

“The majority of new landowners are small-acreage farmers, most in the 5- to 20-acre tract size,” he said. At the farmers market, Grange has seen the offerings expand from produce, meats and eggs to more varied items, such as baked goods, plants and homemade products like jellies and soaps.

His advice to any would-be producer: “Know your soil types and weather conditions of the area.” 

Chappell Hill Lavender Farm

On a clear spring day, driving down FM 1155 a few miles northeast of Brenham feels like tunneling through a kaleidoscope. Verdant trees curve overhead, their branches touching, giving way to a brilliant blue sky. On the landscape, patches of fiery Indian paintbrushes warm the palette. 

Then, about half a mile down a side road, you hit the silvery purple payload.   

Chappell Hill Lavender Farm cultivates its namesake perennial flowering shrub, renowned for a calming aroma and homeopathic properties, on about 4 acres. This farm and Luling Lavender Fields are the two largest operations dedicated to the tricky art of coaxing lavender to bloom in the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area.  

Lavender has been used for at least 2,500 years for everything from bathing and cleaning to medicine and mummification. Now it’s likely to show up in soothing soaps, relaxing sleep aromatherapy and beauty products.

The plant has more than 450 varieties and is native to the Mediterranean, according to the U.S. Lavender Growers Association. It loves lots of sun, dry and rocky soil and temperatures in the 60- to 85-degree range. Stateside, you’re most likely to find it flourishing on huge farms in the Pacific Northwest. That raises the question: How can it survive in Texas’ hot, humid summers and occasional bitter winter freezes? 

Growing lavender requires patience, practice, adaptability and a willingness to accept challenges. When conditions are right, a flourishing lavender crop — with its calming scent and picturesque blooms — can draw a crowd.  

“I read something that said two out of every three people are stressed out these days,” said Debbie McDowell, who started the Chappell Hill farm with her husband, Jim, in 2003. “It's obvious with all the things going on, your work, your job, traffic, people are looking for something to help them relax.” 

The town of Chappell Hill is known for its Bluebonnet Festival every spring, but there’s no bad blood between these blooms. McDowell happily welcomes guests whose floral preferences lie a notch over on the color spectrum. Visitors often come to the farm as part of Brenham day trips or weekend escapes, traveling from other areas in the Bluebonnet region, and the big cities not far beyond. 

The McDowells lived in Houston before they sought retirement in paradise. “When we moved out here, it was all raw land,” Debbie said. She and Jim saw potential in the shade trees and a green hill rolling down to a pond. They’ve added a gazebo, three miniature goats and, of course, orderly rows of lavender bursting out of the ground. By Debbie’s estimate, around 1,500 plants are growing this spring.

Before they founded the farm, Debbie had some gardening experience but was no farmer. Admittedly, she thought of lavender as a laundry detergent scent. Inspired by a segment on a TV show, the couple bought a flat of lavender plants and stuck them in the ground, just to see what would happen. 

The lavender did pretty well. So, they cleared the field and bet on purple. 

The McDowells grow two varieties best suited to Washington County’s climate: Provence and Sweet lavender, with blooms that are a cool, almost silvery shade of purple, more ethereal than royal. Intensely purple varieties of lavender don’t grow as well in Central Texas, Debbie said. 

The Sweet lavender blooms first, between April and June. The Provence lavender, a culinary favorite, blooms July through September. Looking for another way to keep guests coming between lavender seasons, the McDowells planted fruit trees on their property a few years back. Peaches, figs, pears, persimmons and even blackberry bushes now grow a few yards away from the lavender beds. 

Nature has been a tough teacher. Originally, the McDowells planted in long rows, but as the lavender grew close together, high humidity caused problems. 

“They didn’t get enough airflow to dry the plant out,” Debbie said. “Moisture is lavender’s number one enemy.” They learned to space plants out and make rows shorter.

“In October or November, we plant and pray that we don’t have a freeze,” Debbie said. “If we have a hard freeze, we pull everything out, and we start over.” 

“The progress that we’ve made through the years, as far as learning what worked better for the plants and the products, I think that’s what I’m most proud about,” she said. “Because it takes time — a lot of ups and downs — to get there.”  

Leaving the gift shop, Debbie strolls along the rows of Sweet lavender. She snips a single stem decorated with spiky flowers and holds it up. It gently bends to gravity, curving downward. The plants need more sunlight and time in the ground, she said, before they’re ready for eager visitors to snip. 

“The people that come out here are just very special people,” Debbie said. “They’re the type of people that appreciate nature, flowers, serenity, quiet.”

Luling Lavender Fields

Luling Lavender Fields is owned by a couple who figured out the art of growing lavender in the region over time. Richard and Erin Leavitt wanted to make use of 10 acres of family land, easily accessible from the detour-friendly intersection of U.S. 183 and Interstate 10, a few miles southeast of downtown Luling. Erin’s late father, Bill Watson, bought the land in 1955, the year she was born.

The Leavitts visited lavender farms in the state of Washington, where Erin’s sister lives, doing field research to find a crop that could generate income. Once back in Luling, Richard set up an irrigation system on their land, punched the ground with a post-hole digger and sprinkled a little nitrogen-rich bone meal into the soil to help achieve the neutral pH that lavender likes. In 2017, they planted 2,000 lavender plants on 2 acres. 

The planter boxes where their lavender grows are painted the color of their contents. Elsewhere in the field, a gazebo, a bicycle, an old flatbed truck and a flamingo figure are the same hue. 

The Leavitts grow a few lavender varieties, including Super Blue and English. Once the tall Super Blue starts blooming in the spring, it doesn’t stop until the first freeze of winter, Erin said. Its flowers make great dried bundles, Richard said. The shrubby English lavender, often used in cooking, is more seasonal, usually blooming in April and fading by June.

Unpredictable weather isn’t the only challenge this farm deals with. Richard regularly faces off against thirsty fire ants that move into the drip lines and gophers’ tunnels that disrupt the plants’ root systems.  

“This used to be a rock quarry in the ’40s,” Erin said. “My family gave it to me because nobody wanted it.” 

Thanks to those rocks, the fields have great drainage. Lavender hates wet feet, which leads to root rot. Many amateur gardeners make the mistake of giving lavender too much water, Erin said.

The Leavitts’ shop sells a variety of starter plants that visitors can take home (as does Chappell Hill Lavender Farm). Erin always asks where folks live before giving out advice. Land with sandy soil works best for growing lavender in the Bluebonnet region, especially with all-day sun and a little fertilizer. Clay soil traps moisture, though, so folks in those regions should opt for a raised bed or a pot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. 

“The way I water, I call it ‘drowned and dry,’ ” Richard said. His advice to home growers: “Let that pot dry out. When it’s dry, then you just want to drown it with water — pour way more water than you’d ever think — and then let it dry out for a couple days.”

Until recently, rows of lavender were there simply to admire. But last June, they allowed visitors to snip their own souvenirs for a change. It was a hit, so they let folks pick their own bundles again this spring.

“We couldn’t believe how many people did it in 100-degree heat, when the blooms were not great,” Erin said. “We realized it isn’t hard to do, and our visitors love it.” 

Perfect scents

By late April, it’s cutting time back at Chappell Hill Lavender Farm. On a perfect spring Saturday, sunny enough for a body to sweat but windy enough to dry it off, visitors pack the gift shop. Debbie McDowell and two assistants do it all — ring up customers, bundle fresh-snipped lavender and pour lemonade. 

The gift shop offers proof that lavender can be used in myriad ways. The shelves feature several different spice blends. You can pick up lavender fudge or the farm’s signature crunchy cookie with lavender. There are aromatherapy products made with essential oil. Handmade soaps rival anything you’d find at a big-box store. Lavender mosquito spray is a bestseller. 

Debbie makes some of the products herself, as does Erin Leavitt for her own well-stocked gift shop in Luling. On the shelves, visitors will find Erin’s lotions and potions. A painted shelf reading “lots of love, laughter and lavender” holds body products, like sugar scrubs, foaming bath salts and bars of soap. Elsewhere, there are sachets of dried lavender and boxes of lavender tea.

The Leavitts sell some of Luling Lavender Fields’ blooms in bundles, but they also source many of the gift shop’s goods from outside suppliers, including other small farms. 

At Chappell Hill Lavender Farm, employees give a pair of scissors and a flat-bottomed wicker basket to anyone looking to snip something. Bees and butterflies flit around people’s fingers. Bursts of fragrance hit their noses whenever their scissors sever a stem from its sisters. 

It’s calming carnage.

That soothing effect is what draws visitors to Luling Lavender Fields, too. “Lavender has reached the consciousness of the public as something that's really good for you,” Erin said. “It’s natural. It’s relaxing.” Their field welcomes all kinds of folks looking for the purplish peacemaker — girlfriends on weekend excursions, families with rowdy kids, curious groups from assisted living facilities. 

Lavender plants often flummox Central Texas gardeners. On that April day at Chappell Hill Lavender Farm, hopes sprang eternal. Undoubtedly, many of the day’s visitors drove out the gate and into the kaleidoscope, their car thick with that clean, soothing scent and their minds filled with visions of lavender blooms in their back yards.

— Melissa Segrest contributed to this story

Chappell Hill Lavender Farm

2250 Dillard Road, Brenham Farm and gift shop open March through November; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Open by appointment only December-February; holiday hours vary. 979-251-8114 chappellhilllavender.com 

Luling Lavender Fields

5 Arrow Lane, Luling Fields and gift shop open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily 830-351-4609 lulinglavenderfields.com