Great Comp Garden and Dyson's Nursery - November 2011

In late November 2011, I got the chance to spend the day at Great Comp Garden, located in Kent. In addition to being a great stately garden, consisting of seven acres, it also doubles up as a Salvia nursery.  A specialist field of plant knowledge for the head gardener, curator and nurseryman, Mr. William Dyson.

William is a very talented horticulturalist who is a very knowledgeable man, and a very busy man at that.  There is always lots to be getting on with, whether he decides to spend time on the garden, or to spend the time spent inside the tunnels propagating Salvia's.  I would imagine that depends on whether it is raining or not!

This remarkable Kent Garden is a veritable plantsman's paradise. The year begins with Snowflakes & Hellebores, followed by Magnolias, Azaleas and Rhododendrons.  Furthermore, Summer brings a wealth of colourful, rare & exotic shrubs & perennials, especially Saliva's; these unusual and long flowering plants are particularly well represented at Great Comp with their display extending between May & October.

Due to the adverse weather conditions of November, we resided in the propagation tunnels where I spent the vast majority of the day propagating various Salvia's ready for selling or growing the following spring.
It is a task where you have to concentrate more you would think, as not every Salvia is propagated in the same way.  It was a great day, despite the gloomy weather and William Dyson is a great character.

He has already said to come back in the summer when there are more interesting things going on in the garden.  I look forward to visiting next time and reporting back on how much the garden has changed.

http://www.greatcompgarden.co.uk/