Dixter Diary – Day 13

It was a busy day at Great Dixter with the Dachshund Fun Day in full swing from 11 am until 3 pm. There were a lot of Dachchunds there today but also many other dogs.  I tried to get a count of dogs but as they were coming and going, it was tough to tell…I would say close to 150 dogs overall and it was well run by Aaron with help from Perry, Thomas, Simon, Lewis, Hayden, Holly and other folks from Great Dixter.  Seeing all those cute “sausage dogs” was quite interesting and I didn’t see any fights (just minor conflicts).  I’m amazed at how busy the gardens are on the weekends but not surprised.  I think with the event today, the cafe, gift shop and nursery probably all had increased sales.  The gardens probably saw more traffic as well.  Some of the highlights are further below.  I did get my morning walk in around the gardens and headed in to town for some supplies as well.  See further below for some odds and ends from today.  Back to gardening tomorrow.

 Aaron is in white shirt on the left and ran a great event – Perry is entering from the right and did some of the judging
 Aaron has them all lined up for the “Best of Show” (all in good fun)
 I missed the obstacle portion of the event seen above though!
 my roommate Thomas (hat in the center left) helped with the grilling
 this pond is beautiful in the morning as was this tree below

 

 the Vegetable Garden looked great this morning
 I want to track down these reddish marigolds (Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’) for next year!
 the brickwork on the chimneys is amazing too!
 I believe this variegated maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis) is ‘Cosmopolitan’ and looks great with filtered morning light coming through
 the Exotic Garden (above) looked great this morning as did the Barn Garden (below)

 

this flower is from the tree dahlia (Dahlia imperialis) which is about 8′-10′ tall here!
seeds (above and below) are even dried, organized and stored in the house

 some of Aaron’s produce (above and below) from the Vegetable Garden looks great right outside my room!
 this is what the sky looked like all day!