Purple Gold

Winning a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has always demanded perfection – anything less is very rarely enough.

Kent-based Downderry, the lavender nursery, rose to the challenge and came home with a Gold in the floral marquee category, bringing its current tally of RHS Gold medals to eight.

Proud of Kent
As proud owner, Simon Charlesworth, told Kent Life: “'Winning another Gold Medal at Chelsea, especially this year when standards were exceptionally high, confirms our position as the UK's premier lavender nursery, with the world's largest collection of lavenders.

“It also endorses Kent's importance as the county with the greatest acreage under cultivation. It is something of which the entire county can be very proud.”

Lavender used to be dismissed as an old-fashioned plant associated with fading lace, gentility and elderly ladies, but it’s become one of our most popular herbs and is currently enjoying a status high up on the ‘must-have’ garden plant list.

Ask gardeners to name the county they most associate with lavender and chances are the answer will be Norfolk. It probably comes as a surprise to learn that more lavender is now grown in Kent than any other county and that we also hold what is regarded as the most important of the three National Collections at Downderry Nursery.

Tucked away in a corner of west Kent between Hadlow and Tonbridge, amid three and a half acres, much of which is surrounded by a wonderful old wall, Downderry is a peaceful, remarkably innovative place to visit in an area designated of Special Landscape Significance.

Lavender is a plant perfectly adapted to take advantage of global warming

Quite a few people who enjoy high profiles in the horticulture world were late entrants who started their careers in an entirely different sector, and that is the case with Simon Charlesworth, who founded Downderry.

The first time Simon had any sort of involvement with plants was when, as a student working for a PhD at Brighton University, he took a job at a garden centre. Interestingly, the thesis for his doctorate concerned land drainage and no doubt his specialist knowledge of this subject has proved extremely helpful, bearing in mind that lavender is a herb that really hates wet conditions.

Seventeen years ago, Simon recognised that climate change was on the way and that lavender was a plant perfectly adapted to take advantage of global warming. The original setup was small and centred in the garden of his house in Ditton. Six years later, he moved to Downderry’s current premises, first of all renting and later buying.

Important collections
Simon has held what is acknowledged as the most important of the three National Collections of Lavender since 1996. Downderry also holds a National Collection of Rosmarinus (Rosemary).

Not surprisingly, Simon is a mine of information about lavender and visitors are provided with whatever facts and advice thy request. The most commonly asked questions, he says, relate to hardiness and soil type preference. Although many lavenders are hardy, the Downderry collection does include some described as ‘exotically beautiful’ which are tender and need to be taken in well before the arrival of early frosts and thereafter kept warm at a temperature of about 5 degrees centigrade.

As far as soil is concerned, Simon explains that lavender will thrive in virtually any type - providing the drainage is good. At Downderry, the soil is clay loam with a pH of 7. He has added pea shingle, which is fantastic for improving drainage, to the soil which was then rotovated to a depth of about 30cm.

We like to think of lavender as the most English of plants but, in fact, although the use of lavender is believed to have been introduced by the Romans, there is no documented evidence of the plant itself existing in this country before the 13th century.

Simon admits that classification of lavender is immensely complicated and confusing, but in 2004 a major revision was undertaken, the research for which is covered in the book The Genus Lavandula, edited by Tim Upson and Susyn Andrews. As a consequence, lavenders are now classified according to their botanical characteristics.

classification of lavender is immensely complicated and confusing

If all this seems difficult to understand, there is no cause for concern: the team at Downderry is well used to providing a range of information to suit both the complete amateur and the expert professional.

Providing the ground is well drained, it’s almost impossible to plant lavender in the ‘wrong’ place because it adapts equally well to both formal locations and cottage-type gardens, assures Simon. Planting in small groups comprising three plants is very effective but, when space allows, a large block of the same colour is absolutely stunning.

Hedges entirely composed of lavender are gaining in popularity and Simon suggests that using plants from a single cultivar produces the most successful result. Lavender is also ideal for geometrically patterned planting and is particularly attractive when used in a traditional Victorian knot garden. Many types of lavender, including some of those that are only half-hardy or tender, do well planted in traditional terracotta pots, which are especially pleasing in sitting-out areas of the garden.

Straight advice
Staff at Downderry take pride in providing sensible, straightforward advice about planting, watering, feeding, harvesting, pruning and over-wintering. It’s also possible to pick up tips about ways in which to make use of lavender once it’s been harvested.

Dowderry’s 3.5acres contain some 250 types of lavender. Putting this into perspective, Simon explains that some of the big commercial growers produce far more limited ranges of plants for a variety of specific uses in growing areas that might extend to 50 or more acres. About 90 per cent of Downderry’s sales relate to visitors to the nursery and to mail and internet orders from all round the world.

There’s really only one problem for visitors to Downderry - the chance to walk around admiring so many stunning lavenders, their fragrance and glorious mixture of colours, means it’s almost impossible not to leave with far more examples of this delightful plant than they originally intended!

The facts

? Downderry Nursery so far has a tally of four Gold RHS Chelsea Flower Show medals and four Gold RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show medals. At Hampton Court in 2005, Downderry won a Gold Medal, a Tudor Rose Award for the Best Exhibit in the section and a Special Award for the most innovative exhibit.

? The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) is a registered charity set up to conserve the rich diversity of plants in Britain and Ireland. It is the NCCPG that awards ‘national collection’ status.

? Just a couple of miles from Downderry, Hadlow College’s Broadview Gardens (open to the public free of charge, 360 days of the year) holds National Collections of Hellebore and Japanese Anemones. Undergraduate students from the college’s faculty of Medicinal Horticulture undertake work experience at Downderry.

? Over the centuries, lavender has found considerable royal favour. Queen Elizabeth l required lavender conserve to be served at the royal table and she also demanded fresh lavender flowers to be available every day – a task that her gardeners must have found very difficult to fulfil. Queen Victoria used a favourite lavender-scented deodorant and our own Queen Elizabeth is said to favour a number of lavender-scented products. Louis XlV bathed in lavender scented water and Charles Vl of France insisted that his pillows were always lavender filled.

DOWNDERRY OPENING TIMES AND EVENTS

Downderry is open 1 May to 31 Oct, Tue to Sun and Bank Holidays, 10am to 5pm.

Nursery tours combined with talks, opportunity to see the distillation processes used in the production of oil and a look behind the scenes will take place at 3pm on 20 and 27 July, 3, 10, 17 and 25 Aug and 7 Sep.

Tel: 01732 810081. Private bookings also accepted from gardening clubs and other groups.

A history of lavender

The Egyptians and Phoenicians used lavender in mummification processes. The Romans, to whom bathing was an important social function, used it to make highly scented bath oil and as a cooking ingredient.

In the third century BC, the Greek physician Theophrastus included reference to the healing qualities of its scent in his book Concerning Odours. Throughout history, this wonderfully versatile plant has been appreciated for its medicinal properties, its culinary uses and its ability to soothe and lift the spirits.

The Latin root name – Lavandula – is thought to have originated with the Romans, either from livendula – livid, bluish – or, and more likely, lavare - to wash - but some believe its history goes back much, much further to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden.

Fable and facts surround this most popular of herbs which is currently enjoying a status high up on the ‘must-have’ garden plant list.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Where do you want to go next?

               
   The Editor's blog         Kent Farmers' Markets     Read Kent interviews     Homes and Gardens

              
   The Kent Life Forum         Town features                    Features             Subscribe to Kent Life!

Click here to bookmark this page

_________________________________________________________________________________

---