KEY POINTS
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Ohio is home to more than a dozen lavender operations, many of them less than a decade old. While lavender has long been found among other crops in herb or flower farms, it is increasingly taking center stage, often with a community touch.
“We want Ohio to be it in the lavender world,” said Hamilton County Farm Bureau member Glenda Couch, who with her husband, Jamie, opened White Barn & Blooms in July outside Cincinnati, the largest lavender operation in the state.
The rise in Ohio lavender fields reflects a national rise. The USDA’s Census of Horticultural Specialities reported that the U.S. was home to 1,547 lavender operations in 2024, up from 1,317 five years earlier. Long a popular crop in Europe, lavender has taken off throughout the country, led by the Pacific Northwest.
Lavender’s calming perfume scent has been prized for centuries, but its use in skincare products, oils and even food has helped drive current demand. Hundreds of lavender products now line store shelves, from lavender honey to lavender neck pillows, lavender candles to lavender tissues, and lavender chocolate to lavender ice cream.
“It’s definitely trending now,” said Amy Duxbury, who opened Lavender Trails in Orrville with her husband, Jim, in 2020. “But lavender is an ancient herb that’s been part of so many civilizations. It’s the Swiss Army knife of herbs.”
The Wayne County Farm Bureau members were high school teachers starting to think about retirement when they visited a lavender farm near Geneva, Ohio, several years ago. It struck just the right scent.
“We were looking for something to do in retirement, something that combined education, environment and community,” Jim said. “I thought, ‘Who the heck plants lavender?’ But lavender is a low-resource crop, great for the environment and it just makes people happy.”
Lavender had another advantage for the couple: Since it’s largely a summer enterprise, they were able to get started while still teaching. In 2018, they found an unlikely place for their venture: the site of a former concrete plant in an Orrville industrial park.
“The biggest question we get asked is the location,” said Amy. “Everyone says ‘I didn’t realize you were in an industrial park.’”
The following year, they planted 2,000 lavender plants, offering eight varieties of the herb including the two main ones, French and English. A year later, a few months after the start of COVID, they opened Lavender Trails, turning a brownfield purple.
In keeping with the Duxburys’ educational background, the couple hosts tours and workshops and have partnered with researchers to better understand lavender’s potential in Ohio.
Despite the COVID launch, the couple, who retired from teaching this year, said their decision to focus on U-pick and agritourism has been the right one.
“Traffic has definitely been increasing,” said Amy. “There’s money to be made and it’s a lot of fun. But it’s also a lot of work; there’s always weeding.”
In the opposite corner of the state, the Couches are launching a lavender operation on a far different scale. The couple have teamed with the industry veteran Victor Gonzalez to open White Barn and Blooms in Ross.
The partners have planted 20,000 lavender plants with the goal of eventually reaching 100,000. Already, the farm is the largest in Ohio and one of the largest in the eastern U.S.
White Barn and Blooms, which features a 180-person event center, a garden and pavilion and a boutique store, lavishly caters to consumers but also sells lavender plants to other lavender farms, extending Gonzalez’s reach.
“I’m in Washington state, on the Olympic Peninsula, thousands of miles from Ohio,” explained Gonzalez, who started Victor’s Lavender farm in Sequim, Washington, in 2004 and travels internationally to speak on lavender horticulture. “My main clients are on the East Coast, so I struggle with how to transplant my products and live plants that far.”
Gonzalez is moving across the road from White Barn to more directly manage the growth of the operation, which is one of the few in Ohio large enough to produce lavender oil, the essential ingredient in lavender products. The 65-acre farm produces its own lavender soaps, lotions, lip balms, sprays, sachets, creams and (with partners) wine and honey.
Not without challenges
Ohio lavender farmers are bullish on the future of the plant, but as Gonzalez and others can testify, growing lavender in the Buckeye State comes with challenges. The herb fares best in dry and temperate climates and in porous soil. Ohio lavender farmers don’t worry about irrigating. They worry about the opposite: excess water.
The Duxburys were fortunate in choosing a former concrete plant for their operation. The concrete debris had left the soil calcareous, and well-drained. But even so, they learned early on to mound and cover the plants to enhance drainage.
“Water is the cryptonite of lavender, it will encourage harmful bacteria and root rot,” said Jim. “Ohio has enough water for lavender, too much really.”
Heavy rains, cold and the unpredictable climate have tempered the crop’s expansion in the Midwest, said Sherri Wood, president of the United States Lavender Growers Association.
“Lavender farming continues to attract new growers, but we also see farms leave the industry,” said Wood. “This past year has been particularly difficult for many growers in the Midwest. Excess rainfall has been one of the biggest challenges. Lavender thrives in well-drained soils and generally does not tolerate prolonged wet conditions around its roots.”
White Barn and Blooms lost about 40% of its first plantings. Gonzalez and the Couches are continuing to tweak the soil, plant varieties and conditions to find the right mix for Ohio.
“Without Victor, I would never have attempted this,” said Jamie Couch. “I know with him, it will work. But you have to figure out what works and what’s not working. It’s a learning curve.”
Gonzalez is confident that White Barn will help lead the herb’s rise in Ohio. He and the Couches plan to host workshops and speakers for lavender growers and share what they learn. For them, the future smells of lavender.
“There’s no stopping point for the lavender industry,” said Gonzalez. “People use lavender for everything and everywhere, in kitchens, bathrooms. Lavender makes people feel good and look good. The potential is huge.”
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