While the sandy loom soil conditions at Martha's Vineyard were ideal for the plant, Kozloski, a Niagara-on-the-Lake native, wondered if the plant could be grown successfully in her hometown. At first trying a small patch out in her home garden, Kozloski said she took a chance by seeing if there was soil ideal enough to grow lavender in large quantities.

"I searched for land to grow it and there was a former tobacco farmer that was getting rid of his tobacco lands. It had sandy soil that we could use to grow it in."

With the financial aid of a grant provided by the National Research Council, a government agency that provides assistance to promoting scientific and industrial research, Kozloski was able to obtain 50 acres of land along Niagara Stone Road in an attempt to grow lavender.

But because the soil was underdrained, Kozloski said the lavender perished. Down, but not out, Kozloski had a variety of lavender shipped in from the United States and continued her attempt at growing the plant with 50 additional acres at the Vineland Research Centre and the 50 acres in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The soil conditions in Vineland proved to be successful and in order to further her exploration of lavender, she applied and received another grant from the National Research Council to purchase a table-sized distiller, a machine that condenses the plant and extracts natural oils and hydrosol.

Kozloski said lavender oil has been known to be used as an antiseptic and in anti-inflammatory products. Lavender oil is a popular ingredient in balms, salves, fragrances and bath products, she said.

Hydrosol produced from lavender can be used as an essence water or as a natural spray that removes odours from fabrics.

"It's like the natural version of Febreze," Kozloski said.

Another byproduct, kindling, is a material of lavender that can be used to start fires or as stuffing for pillows, she said.

"There are so many purposes for lavender," Kozloski said. "This is just the beginning of what can be done with it."

Kozloski said the reason why lavender products are expensive on the market is because it takes a lot of the plant to produce very little product. For instance, Kozloski said it takes about two kilograms of lavender to make two millilitres of oil.

Lavender harvesting is also labour intensive, having to be extracted by hand. Kozloski said the next step in her lavender project is to find a mobile distilling machine so lavender can be processed on-site right after its harvested.

Kozloski said anyone interested in seeing her lavender project in action can call her at 905-468-6685.