Victoria’s Lavender/Tumalo Lavender

Back in 2001, Marilyn Thompson started her Newberg, Oregon-based business, Victoria’s Lavender (named after her daughter) after life events derailed her path and she needed a career that would allow her to be home with then five-year-old Victoria.  Marilyn planted a small field of lavender and chose to focus primarily on creating beautiful, soothing, skincare products. To get her product out there, she went to lots of farmers markets and shows, working hard to build a company and future for her and her children. Twenty years later, she has a successful line of lavender products that she is able to sell mostly online.  

A few years after Marilyn started her business, Gordon and Judy Knight were starting their own lavender adventure in Tumalo Oregon, just outside of Bend.  In 2005, they planted their first 1,000 test plants. The following year, they planted 6,000 more, choosing 23 varieties of lavender that met their criteria for beauty, climate hardiness, oil, scent and color. They eventually worked their way up to approximately 10,000 lavender plants in the field.  They have long been one of the premier suppliers of lavender plants for hobbyists and farmers throughout the area with their extensive propagation system.  

In 2022, however, Gordon and Judy decided that it was time to pass their farm on to someone else.  At about the same time Victoria and her sisters Holly and Summer had joined their mom in ownership and operation of the company, so they had been thinking about expanding.  So in a perfect marriage of two remarkable and successful companies, Tumalo Lavender became part of the Victoria’s lavender company in 2022.  Marilyn and her daughters continuing the growing and propagation activities started by Gordon and Judy, as well as lavender distillation, which now provides lots of lavender essential oil for Victoria’s Lavender products.

While Marilyn is still based in Newberg, continuing production of Victoria’s Lavender products, the sisters are all now located in Tumalo, working hard to continue the legacy begun by their mom over 20 years ago.  If you would like to learn more, Marilyn’s story, she has written a book, Live a Legacy, Leave a Legacy,available on the Victoria’s Lavender website.