Today was an exciting day as the highlight was attending a talk on the Exotic Garden by Fergus Garrett this morning after our morning clean-up duties. Susan and Thies (other students) also attended the lecture portion of this study day. While we didn't go out with the other attendees to view the Exotic Garden after lunch, I did include some recent photos of that lush space further below... I continue to meet Great Dixter staff and volunteers and they have been, without exception, warm and welcoming. I have now been here a week. Any way, the lecture was excellent and I now have many new ideas for tropicals to try at Rotary Botanical Gardens next year. I then helped Rachel and Thies inventory, sort and bag up bulbs in the barn for their upcoming Plant Fair in two weeks. It looks like they aren't shy with using bulbs at Great Dixter either based on the order we were unpacking!
Exotic Garden (above and below)
Exotic Garden (above and two photos below)
above is Rachel who seems to really love her work and has patience for the "newbies"
The photo above and four below were taken yesterday (Sunday) in the Great Dixter Nursery which seems to be a "destination nursery" in that it offers a VERY wide range of COOL plants. I'm amazed at the variety they offer including a wide range of clematis which is something that Christopher Lloyd was very interested in when the nursery was started back in the 1950s. Many of the plants in the nursery are grown from seed or cuttings taken from existing Great Dixter plants. I had two frustrations in the nursery...not being able to really get anything to take back home (easily) and many of the plants that drew my eye were not hardy! Regardless, they have a nice operation back there and it seems that nursery staff help the gardeners on occasion and vice versa. Again, the cooperation and teamwork evident here is impressive. The nursery was extremely busy this past weekend and I imagine this is typical.
Clematis Collection at the nursery
Above is the work barn where I start the day by getting a bucket, broom and other tools as needed for morning clean-up. This structure is also located near the nursery which actually hugs the front of the structure as well. The four photos below were taken in the rain today after work ended. I hadn't explored far enough to enjoy the Vegetable Garden which is managed by Aaron who is also has many other duties associated with managing the Great Dixter house. I love the photo below with goldenrod (Solidago sp.) at peak alongside leeks (Allium sp.) I believe. Aaron also has a neat blog on the subject of growing vegetables at Great Dixter at https://dixtervegetablegarden.wordpress.com/. More fun tomorrow!
'Monch' aster (Aster x frikartii) for some color on this cloudy day!
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