Norfolk Lavender

It's a month since we visited Norfolk Lavender, but it's been in my mind a lot this week because mine is really on song at the moment - that's the visiting bees for you - and the harvest in Norfolk should be well under way by now. At first glance the site looks like a glorified garden centre with its plants sales, shop and cafe, but scratch (and sniff!) beneath the surface and there's much more to discover. Most of the lavender production (both flower and oil distillation) is off-site these days: we visited the historic place where it all began in the 1930s where Linn Chilvers started his successful experiments, not only in finding lavender plants to rival those he'd seen in Provence, but to also distill his own top quality oil.

An old lavender perfume recipe was successfully revived and the business grew until today there's around 100 acres of lavender fields under cultivation in Norfolk, including some on the royal estate of Sandringham. The site we visited houses the national collection of lavender (pictured) of 200 cultivars spread mainly across 3 species - Lavandula angustifolia (7 varieties of which are grown for commercial oil production), Lavandula stoechas (which we also call French lavender) and Lavandula x intermedia. The collection itself needs re-accreditation with Plant Heritage because much of it has been replanted this year owing to the poor summers of the past 2 years.

NAH and I took a guided tour - an hour long and well worth doing - especially as we were the only ones on it. This gave us the historical background to the company and an insight into the drying and distillation process. Heaps of harvested flowers are left to dry in a barn, which also has slots in the floor so that warmed air can circulate all the way round. Last year was the first time in memory the lavender had to be turned during the drying process. The flowers from each field are distilled individually for their oil because buyers want particular fields and lavender varieties for their products. Extensive records are kept of a field's harvest and the resultant amount and quality of oil distilled each year.

I was surprised to find out that L. angustifolia can be grown almost indefinitely if it's cut back when in flower - as happens of course with the lavender grown commercially. I want to admire my flowers though, but learnt I can make my plants last a lot longer by cutting them down to about half an inch of green growth in September. I'd just been cutting back the old flower stems, which is why my plants are so woody and need replacing. L. stoechas needs to be cut back in August as it's tender in this country and so needs slightly longer for the plant to harden up after its haircut. A cutback in spring of any cultivar is not recommended for the UK.
During our tour we were given a sample of the dried flowers and the intensity of their scent was fantastic. I kept my sample in the pocket of my shorts and had a delicious whiff every time I took out my hankie during the rest of the holiday. We were also struck by how different the scent can be between both species and cultivars and decided L. 'Imperial Gem' was the best. NAH declared he loathed all L. stoechas but thought L. angustifolia was lovely. Throughout the rest of the holiday he was found sampling and sniffing the scent of lavender plants wherever we went. I might get him to like plants after all!

Naturally our visit ended with a cup of tea at the cafe, where we sampled some lavender cake plus some equally delicious lavender scones topped with strawberry and lavender jam. It was warm enough to sit outside, so we sipped our drinks surrounded by hundreds of honey bees, exploring and drowsling away at the lavender flowers. All in all, a grand afternoon out :)

Comments

  1. Karen - An Artists Garden10 July 2009 at 09:19

    Thanks for writing about this, something I have always wanted to do visit a lavender farm.

    I found the notes you made about cutting back the lavender to about one inch of green interesting and I will be trying that on my L. angustifolia - although I cut Lavender back quite hard - I do am not that brutal - think I will test it out on my own before I attack my customers.
    :)
    K

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP10 July 2009 at 10:14

    Hi Karen - it was well worth the visit. I was surprised at how brutal you can be when cutting back as well, but well worth a try. I only told you about what I learnt on the day, but the website has an even more brutal treatment for revitalising very woody plants. I'm going to give that a try with mine before I replace them. I've nothing to lose after all!

    NB Jekka McVicar also recommends an autumn haircut for lavender, but I don't remember hers being as brutal when I went to her Herb Farm open day last year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CanadianGardenJoy10 July 2009 at 11:54

    VP ! This was really interesting girl : ) I have a weakness for lavender in my garden and have many of the one named "Provence" .. heaven knows what true cultivar it is but it has single flowers ontop long stems that are very different from my other plants. I'm hoping to collect and dry them for sachets to be made. I am also surprised by a stunning white variety I planted last year .. I wasn't sure if my mind's eye could switch to 'white" for lavender BUT it is amazing .. my favorite for colour and density is Munstead .. next to bright orange butterfly weed it is beautiful : )
    I loved this post girl ! : )
    PS .. here in Canada we can't cut any back in the Autumn .. I have to wait well until late Spring and then it is safe .. poor dears shiver through our winters ? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elaine10 July 2009 at 12:58

    Interesting post, thanks, particularly the idea of comparing the scent of the cultivars. Have you paid a visit to Somerset Lavender? I went there a few months back after hearing a great talk to our local gardening society by one of the owners. It's a smaller scale operation than Norfolk Lavender, but must be fab at the moment! http://www.somersetlavender.com/default.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rothschild Orchid10 July 2009 at 13:21

    I love Norfolk Lavender, haven't been for years, but it's not more than an hour away from Tumbledown Farm so I may have to go and refresh my memory!

    Never had any luck with growing lavender in Wiltshire, but I've put one in the herb border in the veg plot here and it's doing great. I love brushing past it and having the wonderful aroma wafting up to meet me :o)

    I'm a terrible insomniac and the one thing that helps me get off to sleep is lavender pillow spray. I really must learn how to make some for myself...

    Great post VP.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carrie10 July 2009 at 14:16

    Oh, we've just got loads of lavender after visting a walled garden (I'll write about it next week - I said that to myself last week and the week before, but definately, I'll write about it THIS week). Fab plant, so many bees gather on it and now I NEED to try and cook with it, you have spirred me on. Just need to get the oven fixed (only been broken a couple of years, ooops).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10 July 2009 at 17:58

    Very interesting to read about how the plant appreciates the trim at the right time. I've grown lavender before and wound up with very woody plants. I'm growing Provence now but they are only smallish this year. Thanks for a great informative post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Flighty10 July 2009 at 18:03

    Interesting post! I like lavender and really must get some planted on the plot. xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. easygardener10 July 2009 at 20:30

    Fascinating that the scents were different between various kinds of Lavender. I suppose that isn't surprising but lavender is generally so in your face fragrance wise that it is rare to have an opportunity to experience the subtleties.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rose10 July 2009 at 20:50

    This must have smelled heavenly! I just planted my first lavender plants this spring, but they aren't growing very fast--is that normal? I will have to check the tags--if I kept them--to see which variety they are.

    I have finally (!) posted my "Out on the Streets" post if you'd like to take a look. Since I actually live in the country, though, I found myself meandering along some country roads as well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Joanne10 July 2009 at 22:33

    Interesting tip half an inch of green. I do cut back quite hard sometimes but have let mine get a bit too big and my cuttings are not big enough to replace the plants just yet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Frances12 July 2009 at 16:55

    Hi VP, thanks for all this good advice about lavender trimming. But we really enjoyed hearing about the sniffinf tests! I didn't know there was a difference either. Imagining sipping tea while surrounded by the fragrance and beauty and bees sounds divine.
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  13. VP19 July 2009 at 11:42

    Joy - 'Provence' sounds like what we call French lavender or Papillon lavender aka Lavadula stoechas. My favourite's 'Hidcote', though I'm contemplating getting some of the 'Imperial Gem' we found. The key to cutting back lavender here is giving it enough time for the new growth to harden before the onset of winter. I suspect that wouldn't happen in Canada and it's also the reason why French lavender needs an August haircut instead of September. It's really hard to do that when they're still flowering though!

    Elaine - welcome and thanks for visiting :) I've put Somerset lavender down on my visiting list - thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  14. VP19 July 2009 at 11:58

    RO - I did have a lavender hedge down the front drive at first when we moved here - a lovely way to get to the front door! They seem to do OK in our clay soil here, but I've not cut them back hard enough it would seem...

    Carrie - the lavender cakes and jam were surprisingly good. It's a lovely plant - I even have some up at the lottie :)

    Nikkipolani - you're welcome. I learnt so much from taking that tour, so it's been great to pass some of it on :)

    Flighty - I've got a couple of lavender hedges at either end of the plot and the bees love it!

    EG - we were surprised it was so. And perhaps in another situation the French lavender would smell good and the English not!

    Rose - they're probably spending a little time getting their roots down first. Hopefully by now they're beginning to put on some top growth too. They're a mediterranean plant, so like a warm sunny spot. They don't like the soil to be that rich either - that's why it's surprising they've done so well here in my clay soil. Thanks so much for your OOTS post - I've added it to the round up post already - I'm catching up with my comment backlog here ;)

    Joanne - mine are too big and woody too. I fear my cuttings won't be that good either so it's a replacement job for me!

    Frances - it was lovely and we're still going around sniffing lavender when we find it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ken and Ann19 July 2009 at 23:53

    Interesting comments about the lavender. I am in New Zealand and have a lavender farm (www.lavenderbeds.co.nz). There are between 200 and 300 different lavender and, like roses, they all have their individual perfume. The stoechas varieties (ones with the rabbit ears, sometimes called French, Itallian or Spanish)are ornamental only - horrible smell! 'Provence' is a hybrid, Lanvandula X intermedia Provence. The intermedias you would not usually use for cooking but an American woman (now deceased) called Sharon Shipley has written a lavneder cook book using Provence lavender. Usually you should only use the angustifolia varieties such as Hidcote. To trim lavenders you can do it in the autumn but make sure it's in plenty of time before the frosts come, to harden up. In our experience,if they do get frosted, they will still flower but later. It is the hard pruning from the beginning that will ensure your plant not going too woody. I enjoy learning about lavender farms all over the world and one day!!! I hope to visit lots of them!! Happy lavendering - Ann

    ReplyDelete
  16. VP22 July 2009 at 20:04

    Ann & Ken - welcome! Thanks so much for adding such great info to this post and comments, especially about the Provence cultivar. We thought L. stoechas was vile smelling too!

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more