Seasonal Letter – Summer

 

 

Dear Gardener,

 

It is the middle of July and our lavender is looking really beautiful with many colours on display at Norfolk Lavender. The rain we have had recently has made up for the very dry spell we had earlier in the year. There have been torrential downpours but because we have very well drained sandy soil our lavender bushes are not left with ‘wet feet’.

 

In our fields where we grow five different varieties of Lavendula Angustifolia (English Lavender) for distillation and drying, you can distinguish the differences between them because they all flower at slightly different times. Some of the bushes are in full flower, with other varieties flowering slightly later. These differences enable us to harvest the flowers at the stage when we can extract the most oil from the plant. When we harvest our lavender we cut and prune at the same time, with the cutting starting early in July. The exact time is, of course, dependent on the weather and the flowering of the plants.

 

 You will not want to cut your lavender at the same time as we do because we take off all of the blooming flowers but it is most important to prune your lavenders correctly. When your flowers have faded and look untidy, just get out your shears and give them a good hair-cut! They need to be trimmed back almost to the old wood – not just the flower heads. If they are not cut back far enough they will grow too tall and split in the middle. Lavender does not usually like to grow from the old wood.

 

The time to prune is usually towards the end of August or the beginning of September but because of the unusual weather conditions this year it might be a little earlier. There are some bushes where the flowers have already faded so might require earlier pruning although this can be left until a little later. Once pruned the plants will develop new shoot which make the plant much more attractive over the winter and will also give material for propagation.

 

Last winter we lost all of our Lavendula Stoechas (French Lavender) to the frost so please remember that this variety is only semi-hardy and needs protection from the cold weather. This variety needs deadheading during its flowering period and very light pruning and tidying up in the spring.

 

The gardens around the Mill and the Meadow Garden are looking very good at the moment, with the Cosmos and Lavatera planted earlier in the year making a large splash of colour and are attracting butterflies. Our gardeners have been very busy controlling the weeds, cutting the lawns and edging the paths and have been busy planting new lavender bushes and replanting many of the herbs in the herb garden. New labels on the herbs make very interesting and amusing reading!

 

Now is the time for weeding and deadheading, harvesting seeds and thinking about the bulbs and other plants you might wish to have in your garden next year. One of the plants in the garden and is in full flower during July and is much admired this summer is Russian Sage - Blue Spire which is available in our Garden Centre. We have many other beautiful and new varieties of scented plants and herbs available in our Plant Centre.

 

An owl box was installed in the gardens a couple of years ago but is still unused so perhaps next year they will use it. The meadow garden is a good place to see many varieties of birds and the local heron keeps his eye on the brown trout which are seen in the river which used to power the mill. Swallows have nested in the arch at the front of the building and robins have been busy in the conservatory area.