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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Napping under maples



Someone once expressed a lack of appreciation for Japanese Maples to garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence to which she replied, "Then you have never crawled underneath one on an October day."

Try this sometime - I think she has a valid point.
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  1. F CameronNovember 11, 2008 at 7:20 AM

    Hey Phillip...pretty maple!

    You've got a blogspot crazy word wrap thing around your photo. Happens to me all the time and drives me a bit nutty trying to fix it without publishing it 10 times to see how it really looks (preview is terrible, isn't it).

    If you put the html code for a line break before and after your photo it should fix it. That would be a
    used the same way, before and after.

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. F CameronNovember 11, 2008 at 7:21 AM

    Of course, it took out my html code for the line break when I put it in my comment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Phillip OliverNovember 11, 2008 at 7:29 AM

    Thanks Cameron, let me see if I can fix that!

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  4. Roses and LilacsNovember 11, 2008 at 8:25 AM

    I love Japanese maples, mostly for the leaves, shape and color. Since they seem to be a favorite of Japanese beetles, I don't grow them. My loss, I know.
    Marnie

    ReplyDelete
  5. F CameronNovember 11, 2008 at 8:46 AM

    Beautiful! Thanks...I really wanted to read what you had to say, too. :-)

    Cheers,
    Cameron

    ReplyDelete
  6. GailNovember 11, 2008 at 9:13 AM

    I love that story.. Gail

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  7. Philip BewleyNovember 12, 2008 at 9:27 AM

    I love staring upwards into trees. This would be the perfect spot for a hammock!
    Best ,
    Philip

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  8. Digital Flower PicturesNovember 12, 2008 at 6:46 PM

    The colors you have been posting are fantastic.

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  9. LesNovember 13, 2008 at 6:50 PM

    Beautiful! If scares me that Marnie says that Japanese beetles eat Japanese Maples. We have both, but fortunately the beetles must prefer other snacks.

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  10. tinaNovember 14, 2008 at 3:53 PM

    I simply adore the J. maples. Can't believe anyone would not appreciate them.

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  11. CosmoNovember 15, 2008 at 6:43 PM

    I love Japanese maples, too, and your photos are gorgeous. But lying on the ground in October in Virginia?--umm, I'm guessing someone in your household might share my views on that idea. I think dragging out the tarp, the yoga mats and the umbrellas might kind of spoil the moment. Kidding--you've really captured the magic of looking up into trees.

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  12. AnonymousNovember 17, 2008 at 6:09 PM

    I love your photography! Would you mind sharing what your equipment is?

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  13. Phillip OliverNovember 18, 2008 at 4:28 PM

    Thanks Louise. I have a Nikon D50 with various lenses. I also use Photoshop to tweak color, contrast, etc.

    ReplyDelete

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