Tips for photographing lavender fields?

We will be in Furano and Biei for a couple days in mid-July. I hope to get lots of nice photos of the lavender fields (and other flowers/gardens). I am looking for tips from those who have been there.

Yes, I know it will be very busy there, it's obviously very, very popular. Still, I would like to try to get some photos without people in them if possible. I can get up early, stay up late, walk long distances, move to locations that are less popular, etc. I have good camera gear including wide and telephoto lenses, tripod, etc.

Any general tips/suggestions or for specific locations are very welcome. Thank you!

I don�ft think you can escape the crowd in Farm Tomita even if you arrive early, nor will it be any better going for Lavender East. One place we liked a lot and saw not too many visitors is Kanayama-ko Shikagoe lavender garden which has a beautiful lake view serving as a backdrop.

http://town.minamifurano.hokkaido.jp/sightseeing/flowers/

Sounds like a very good suggestion - thank you!!!

Any other ways/places one can escape the crowds?

Make the crowds part of your photo if unavoidable: for instance, use an aperture of f/2.8 or wider to minimize the dept-of-field to blur out the people but catch the purple and some flowers in focus.
What always works is to get low, get close to the flowers and flower lanes or bring a macro lens to catch that bee on the flowers full frame.
Use a polarizer filter to saturate the colours no Photoshop filter can.

If there aren't too many people and you want to try and erase them from the shot, you can use the tripod and a 10 stop ND filter and open the shutter for a long time. The people will walk out of the shot and may be blurred out altogether.