Great Dixter Was the Bait

The lectures by Great Dixter gardener were colorful and almost sales-force energetic but the real fun of Grower Great Gardeners symposium was the concentration of cool people.  My two favorite conversations of the day are below.

For all the successes of this fundraiser  (for Spartanburg Community College in SC and Great Dixter Garden in southern England) the surprise of killer plants and gardening on campus, old friends and young horticulturist was the best part.

Early in the morning, standing by the coffee pot, I chatted up a young man with Andy Warhol hair, asked him a plant questions and he said to me, ‘I don’t know what that is sir, I just got out of high school.’

The  conversation of the day that still makes my head spin? One of SC’s great horticulturist (John Elsey) said to me, ‘I want to come to your farm and learn from you.’  Are you kidding me?

Here are about a dozen pics from the Spartanburg Community College campus.  One of the professors there is a guy I went to college with.   He’s on a great team of men who care about teaching, about mentor-ship and they pulled together dedicated supporters from campus, town and two country to make money for students.  Click on the pic to advance to the next one…..

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7 Comments

  1. Kevin Parris on September 22, 2013 at 1:16 am

    Glad you enjoyed! Thank you for the kind words.

  2. Linda Cobb on September 22, 2013 at 1:53 am

    This event was done to raise funds to educate a scholar in horticulture at Great Dixter and also to raise some funds for the school of hort at SCC. This was accomplished, but the real prize was the fact that new partnerships were formed between SCC and Great Dixter in England. There was the coming to gether of students, home gardeners, extreme gardeners, and professionals. The real beauty was that after it was all over everyone’s head was spinning with new garden possibilites. We were all blown away together !!!!

  3. Jenks Farmer on September 22, 2013 at 10:11 am

    Made me think of the first few years of the Charleston Flower Show where Jo Ann manged to bring together plant people from all parts of the field and enthusiastic, supportive gardeners.

  4. Pam Morris on September 22, 2013 at 1:22 pm

    I bought my first crinum from you at one of those early Charleston Flower Shows many moons ago. It’s in my garden, all happy. Sounds like you had a fun day.

  5. Jenks Farmer on September 22, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    So many moons ago Pam, that I’d stay at the Francis Marion Hotel, now sort of spiffy, for $49 a night — with a window unit a/c.

  6. Anna D. Pressly on October 7, 2013 at 6:41 pm

    It was a wonderful event with something to offer every level of gardener! SCC is a gem.Also, I’m so enjoying “A View From Great Dixter” purchased there. Jenks, a great quick story about Christopher L. and crinums on page 57!

  7. Anna D. Pressly on October 7, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    It was a wonderful event with something that every level of gardener could take away. SCC is a gem!
    Am so enjoying “A View FRom Great Dixter” purchased there. Jenks, a quick, fun story about crinums on page 57.

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