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
Horticultural adventures with Maggie Tran