Dixter Diary – Day 3

Today was another excellent day at Great Dixter with beautiful weather, more gardening, color and meeting more new people.  I took my morning stroll and captured lots of flower close-ups like the dahlia {‘David Howard’) above and the collection below from around the garden.  It’s amazing how I retrace the same steps but see new combinations and plants that I hadn’t noticed the day previous.  I don’t think I’ll tire of enjoying Great Dixter with camera in hand.

 ‘Prairie Sun’ gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) – annual
‘Kelmscott monkshood (Aconitum charmichaelii) in the sunken garden – perennial
Above is my first bucket of debris!  I met Yuko (Japanese student) this morning and she got me started in two areas.  The first thing that is done every morning by all the grounds staff is clean-up and sweeping.  All the paths are swept, debris collected, focused removal of spent flowers (deadheading) is accomplished, etc.  The collective group of gardeners then gets moved and distributed around based on priorities from Fergus.  Fergus (below left) took Sarah (center), Michael (right side of photo below), Thies, Yuko, Johnny and I to the education building (second photo down) for seed starting.  They collect ALOT of seed and re-sow to provide plants for the garden and their Sales Nursery which is quite impressive.  The third photo down shows some of the completed pots with sown seed and the next photo down is one I was working on to prepare for seeding.  The fifth photo down shows the finished product being put “under glass” in the nursery.  It was another great day and I met plenty more Great Dixter staff.  Fergus is always in motion and was successfully juggling garden supervision, a Korean filming crew and then off to give an afternoon lecture.  His energy level, passion, knowledge and sense of humor are very evident!  At the bottom are a couple of shots from early this evening.