Lavender is best harvested for cooking when just a few buds have bloomed. Lavender can be cut and put in a vase with water and last up to 10 days, if you want to eventually dry out the blooms, remove from water after no more than three days, tie stems together and hang upside down, keep out of sun to help maintain it’s color. When growing your lavender plant, deadhead blooms as needed to promote new growth. There are different types of lavender, the best for harvesting is English lavender. When cutting back stems, be sure to leave a minimum of two sets of leaves on the plant stem, if you cut lower than this you most likely will not get new growth on this stem.