On 29/06/2014 10:07, Sacha wrote:
While in Sussex we frequently saw a very deep coloured lavender which
wasn't known to us. We asked the head gardener at Batemans which it is
and he said that, to the best of his recollection, it's L. Hidcote.
There's no question of it being any L.Hidcote we know, so we wondered if
the soil conditions there make a big difference to colour? Perhaps
someone who knows the area and has some experience of gardening there
will be able to tell me? David Hill?


A good question Sacha.
When We lived in the Hastings area we had a very heavy clay soil so not
the thing for lavender.
I was reading something the other day about a British native plant that
deepened in colour the further east you found it, can't remember what it
was for the life of me.
I wonder if it's to do with both temperature and rainfall, Lavender
being a Mediterranean plant, found on poor dry soil and high sunshine it
grows hard, but in our easier and much more moist weather it grows
softer and faster.
I wonder if the smell was also stronger.
Did you get a plant/cutting to see how it does back home for you?
Just my thoughts, no real answer.
David @ a damp but by no means wet side of Swansea Bay