Great Dixter - gardeners day out

Every year the Gardeners enjoy a treat- a day out visiting a garden with the owner of Toddington Manor, Lady Bowman-Shaw. This year we all agreed that Great Dixter, home to Christopher Lloyd who passed away earlier this year was to be the one.

It was a girls only day out for Barbara, Debi Rachael, Lady Bowman-Shaw and myself, as Tony was waiting for his new baby to be born imminently! Just as we arrived the heavens opened and we had to wait for the rain to pass, sheltering under the precarious old entrance porch.

We then thoroughly enjoyed looking around the garden, trying to identify plants we were unsure of, and appreciating many of the sucessful plant partnerships that Great Dixter is so well known for.
Many of the combinations rely on annuals, bulbs and half-hardy perennials being planted out throughout the year, so although it looked fresh and colourful, we all agreed it looked like continual hard work!

The main parts of the garden were in the main quite traditional, although with flamboyant use of colour, while at the front of the house, the exotic garden and the cactus juxtaposed against the 15th century manor house caused many comments as it was so much fun. Many of the plants were tender, so were unfamilar to the gardeners growing outside, but everything looked healthy and well cared for, obviously loving the hot summer we have had this year.

We always have a notepad to write down ideas for Toddington Manor, and we are definately planting more crocosmias for next year, Crocosmia 'Citronella' caught our attention, and Atriplex hortensis var. Rubra looks like an annual well worth planting, and an unusual elder, Sambucus formosana with fantastic orange berries.

Garden Open Day

Our Annual Garden Open Day was a great success, with over 600 visitors to the garden. The weather was how you would describe as 'changeable' with a few short, sharp showers for good measure, but spells of welcome sunshine too. Still too nippy for the end of May though!

As we have had awful weather for the last two weeks - very cold and wet, the flowers that are usually looking great were still tight in bud, but the hostas, alliums and bluebells were looking perfect (if I dont say so myself!)

As all 5 gardeners were helping on the advice desk and selling plants we had propagated ourselves, we were able to sneak out for a visit to the other gardens in Toddington that were open on the same day. The ones we managed to visit really were quite varied and different, and in each one, there were ideas that could inspire other gardeners, be it how to deal with a difficult shady spot, awkward levels, tiny spaces or recycling in the garden - gardeners are the most inventive people out there, I am sure.

Fascinating Tales from the past

On the open day we had the pleasure of meeting two very interesting people. First was a gentleman, who introduced himself as the grandson of a previous Head Gardener, Horatio Plumb who worked at Toddington Manor for Colonial Skinner in 1914. Unfortunately he did not have any photos of Horatio at the manor (that would have been wonderful to see) but is was very interesting to talk with somebody who has direct links with the history of the manor. It would have been SO interesting to talk to Horatio him self - I bet a few things have changed since he was Head Gardener! (I wonder what he would of thought of a female in charge?!)

Then a lovely lady introduced herself as a evacuee in the Second world War, who arrived with her mother and 5 brothers and sisters to spend the duration of the war in the safety of the country, while bombs were being dropped on London. Again, a lot of changes have happened, but the memories were fascinating to hear.

It is great for people to make the effort to revisit the Manor that have a place in their family history, and to hear their stories.