Hortiventure

Richard Norris is a National Collection holder of Lavender. Downderry the famous lavender nursery also has a National Collection in Kent but Richard’s one is mainly of Lavandula x intermedia types and has six cultivars that does not exist anywhere else in the country. Richard’s collection can be viewed on the site of his business Longbarn - a shop, garden centre and cafe of lavender orientated products in Alresford, Hampshire. We are wanting to introduce lavenders including interesting different ones into the garden at Bramdean House, so I was keen to reach out to him as he was so local to seek his advice and see a range of lavenders growing side by side in situ.  Demonstration beds to give an idea of how lavenders grow in the wild at Longbarn. When I arrived with my trainee Katie, the first thing that Richard did was show us alongside his shop a sloped gravel based bed that demonstrated the habitat lavender would be found growing in the wild. The scene would not be too far off if on