There’s a lot more than just grapes growing in Colorado’s Wine Country. While Palisade is famous for its peach orchards (and the annual Palisade Peach Festival), one of the area’s other unique crops is lavender. Fields of the distinctively scented purple flower bloom here each summer before being harvested for use in culinary and medicinal applications, as well as aromatherapy.
The climate of Grand Junction is well suited to growing two varieties of the plant — the French and English types. Each July, you can learn more about the unique plant that’s used in everything from perfume to homeopathy during the annual Lavender Festival in Palisade. During the festival, you can tour lavender fields in Palisade and Paonia, attend workshops and seminars, plus sample an array of lavender-related goodies.