National Magazine Discovers Oklahoma Farm

Friday, June 15th 2007, 2:00 pm

By: News On 6

The folks at â€œSouthern Living Magazineâ€ have discovered something many of us have known about for years, Lavender Hill Farm. The News On 6â€™s Rick Wells headed for Stone Bluff and found a beautiful lavender field perfect for butterflies and bees. He reports some said the farm wouldnâ€™t work in Oklahoma.

Enough blooms and enough bees buzzing around helps to produce lavender honey, a staple in parts of Europe, but it is not that common in Oklahoma, since there isnâ€™t a lot of lavender in the state. That's kind of what this story is about, Judy Wheeler was on a trip to France whenâ€¦

"I picked up this bunch of lavender, and wondered why aren't we growing this in Oklahoma," Judy Wheeler of Lavender Hill Farm said.

She came home and started researching, some folks said it wouldn't grow here.

"I planted a test garden, it worked beautifully,â€ she said.

There are several varieties that thrive here, some French some English. Most of the blooms are the familiar blue violet color, but there is some white lavender too.

The bees love the little flowers, so do dragon flies, and Wheeler says in the afternoon when temperatures rise there are lots of butterflies.

The farm gift shop features many lavender products. The sachets and wreathes are made by Wheeler, and their fragrance will last a long time.

"In a sachet it will last four years, in wreathes it lasts about that long," Wheeler said.

She said about this time last year a writer and photographer from â€œSouthern Livingâ€ stopped by and the resulting article in this month's magazine has resulted in orders from all over the country.

The farm and its gift shop are open Wednesday through Saturday. For more information, click here.

Watch the video: Lavender Farm Featured In National Magazine