Perhaps first domesticated by the Arabians, lavender spread across Europe from Greece. Around 600 BC lavender may have come from the Greek Hyeres Islands into France and is now common in France, Spain, Italy and England. The 'English' lavender varieties were not locally developed in England but rather introduced in the 1600s right around the time the first lavender plants were making their way to the Americas. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe the washing women were known as "lavenders" and they used lavender to scent drawers and dried the laundry on lavender bushes. Also during this time lavender was grown in so called "infirmarian's gardens" along with many other medicinal herbs by monasteries. According to the German nun Hildegard of Bingen who lived from 1098-1179, lavender "water", a decoction of vodka, gin, or brandy mixed with lavender, is great for migraine headaches.
-http://www.lavenderfarm.com/history.htm

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Lavender photos taken at Matanzas Creek Winery, Santa Rosa, CA, 062305
Photo and Website credit: © 2005 Katrina Small