Gathered lavender at Elf Leaf Farm.
“Where have all the flowers gone?” was a fair assessment to be made last month, with hordes of tourists at Craggy Gardens seen grumbling about the almost total lack of rhododendrons during what is usually a blazingly pink peak week for the mountaintop spot. Late yields are also plaguing growers this season, including in the thickly agricultural South Mountain and foothills counties. At Elf Leaf Farm in Landrum, SC, down the road from Tryon, the spot’s “U Pick” lavender feature had to be pushed back a few weeks. “The May cold snap was definitely to blame,” says Allison Garrett, who owns the farm with her husband Derek. By June, though, the popular month-long attraction was finally buzzing. And by July, she says, “we will have completed our own on-site farm store,” selling harvested lavender and handcrafted lavender products.
Elf Leaf Farm, 141 North Campbell Road, Landrum, open Wednesdays through Saturdays. Lavender products are sold on site and at the farmers’ markets in Landrum and Greer. For more information, see elfleaffarm.com (also on Facebook).
