On 29/06/2014 13:06, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-06-29 09:37:56 +0000, David Hill said:

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 seem to remember Liz Pridham mentioning on GW the other week that the
native honeysuckle tends to get more of a pinkish tinge the further east
you go.

In my part of East Anglia it does seem to be variable with some wild
hedgerow honeysuckles I've seen being yellow and cream with just a
slight pink tinge and a few being noticeably pinker.

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

Thanks, David. And no, we didn't see any plants for sale,
unfortunately, though we did buy a few goodies at Gt. Dixter and at
Sissinghurst, Raymond found a Dianthus Sissinghurst which he'd lost way
back and I found a lovely thing at a good Nursery called Merriments in
Hawkhurst. This plant is a new thing to me and has silvery leaves with
little white flowers. It's called Gomphostigma virgatum and has lovely,
narrow silvery leaves and little white flowers. The lavender was
everywhere, so why I didn't ask for a piece, I don't know! It was
growing very happily in beds in front of one of the houses in Rye, at
Batemans, at Sissinghurst and at Gt Dixter, as well as innnumerable
other places we passed. So I begin to think it must be to do with the
soil and rainfall. Now of course, I'm kicking myself!
PS Pouring with rain here now after a fairly clear morning. Drat!

In one bed where the 'soil' is nothing if not poor, sandy, shingly and
free draining I've got L. Hidcote and it's quite a deep purpley blue
shade - darker than Munstead.

Lavenders here do much better, keep a neater shape, have a stronger
scent and survive our Norfolk winters when grown pretty hard. It
wouldn't surprise me to learn that soil and climate affects the depth of
flower colour too. Interesting topic.

--
Sue