Research and Breeding

Downderry was committed to research into all aspects of lavender.

Breeding
Creating new cultivars for the garden and for oil production. We used conventional breeding by hand, but also speed things up in the lab, which took us in wholly new directions.
However, we were often surprised by the wonderful plants produced by open pollinated ‘breeding’, courtesy of bees!

Misnaming
Ensuring plants are named correctly. We unravelled the naming mysteries, or more often the mess that lavender names get into. As a Scientific National Plant Collection Holder we took this role very seriously. There are three main issues. Firstly, plants with the same name, but that are different. Secondly, plants that are the same, but with different names. Thirdly, misspelling and name corruptions.

Cultivation
Optimizing each aspect of husbandry. We endeavoured to get the best out of the facilities we have available from propagation, through growing on, to pruning, from irrigation to pest and disease control and from harvesting through to distillation. As an example we periodically trialled composts, both peat based and peat free assessing their merits and disadvantages. We also constantly honed our irrigation techniques to use water more efficiently in response to plant needs.