Wild growing lavender

In my family home we have a photograph hanging on the wall that shows rows and rows or blooming lavender. Like the ones that advertise the Provence region in France. Millions of little bushes with gazilions of flowers.

Having that in mind I though this is generally how lavender grows, so when I saw the long, naked sticks with some purple leftover on them I did not think this is also lavender!

Surprise, surprise :)

Lavandula stoechas

There is aso Lavandula pedunculata which is also called French Lavender that looks very alike and there is a chance it is this one. I can't figure out which one of the two is it. The area of where it grows would suggest stoechas, so I will stick to this one.
According to flora-on.pt site both can be found in the place I shot it, but stoechas seem much more common.

I will not write about lavender uses or properties. Internet is full of that and most people are familiar with the herb too.
It is an awesome and very versatile one, that's for sure.

In the wild, there they are not trimmed and they can grow to quite a large size bush. With age they get empty in the middle - the old leaves die living naked, brown steps. It is the the tips that keep growing and blooming.

When it doesn't bloom it look like Rosemary (another extremely common herb that grows around here) with it's long and thin leaves.

Blooming season around here (Portugal) tarts in late February and last until June. Then the flowers fade and look like this:





And just for comparison purposes - this is another type of lavender that my mum grows in her garden. It is much smaller, flowers have lighter colour and because she trims once a year (I think) it looks more like the one the photograph.

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_{Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.}