The Pause Lavender Farm Northern Lavender Project

What We’re Testing

Pause Lavender Farm began with a question: Could lavender truly thrive in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula?

We started by testing lavender varieties rated for colder growing zones, including the same varieties obtained from different sources, including ones we grew from seed. Year after year, we watched what survived, what struggled, and which plants returned with the strength, form, bloom and vigor we wanted to see in a northern garden.

The strongest plants became the foundation for our lavender gardens..

The bee collaboration

I remember exactly when I saw the first new plant. It was humbly growing in the shadow of a row, completely opposite in size and color from anything around it. It made me pause and think, where did that come from? 

New and unexpected plants continued appearing and as I researched why, things got exciting.

At Pause Lavender Farm, we don't cut all the lavender on the plants - we leave a good amount for the bees. In return, the bees left us what would become new lavender plants. 

Now I wasn't just researching and testing which plants survive northern winters, I was testing which lavender born right here in our U.P. gardens  could become even better suited to northern gardens. 

That question became the Pause Lavender Farm Northern Lavender Breeding Project.

Today, Pause Lavender Farm is evaluating promising new lavender selections developed from plants growing here in the U.P. on Stonington Peninsula. We are looking for characteristics especially valuable to northern growers, including winter survival, strong growth, healthy root development, plant form, bloom performance and other qualities that make a lavender worth continuing.

Some candidates will move forward and be sold commercially. These will be distinctive Pause Lavender Farm northern selections that were born, grown and tested here in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 

Developing a new lavender takes years of observation, propagation and testing to make sure the characteristics that make it special can be reproduced consistently.

We are still learning from every generation, every growing season and every U.P. winter!

U.P. born. Northern tested. Pause Lavender Farm grown.

Follow the Pause Lavender Farm Northern Lavender Breeding Project as we introduce promising candidates, share selected trial results and invite you to help us name future lavender varieties.