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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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The Pot Arbor

Earlier this year, I posted about the Memphis Hydrangea Tour sponsored by the Mid-South Hydrangea Society. One of the gardens on the tour is Brad Dantone's whose striking pot arbor attracted a lot of attention. Several of you commented about it and asked for directions on how to create one. Brad graciously sent me the directions and I'm just now getting around to posting them (sorry to be so slow!).
Here is Brad next to his pot arbor -

Here are his instructions on how he did it:
{{{This project is easier if two people work together. 

Rebar must be small enough to fit through the hole in the bottom of the pots.Cement the rebar 2 feet into the ground.  Start the pots through the rebar and put mortar on the bottom side of each pot.  Put the next pot on top of the previous pot.  Every pot has the mortar to hold to the next pot as they are treaded through the rebar.

Cement the Post in the ground in the center.

Get a large 2 gallon container, cut the bottom out and centered around the rebar and the first layer of pots.  Stop adding pots above the container.

Pour in the cement and after it dries, cut the plastic off the container.  Use mortar dye to color the cement to a terracotta color.  You can see where the container frame is on the left side of my leg in the picture.

After the cements dries, continue adding more pots with the mortar in between each pot.    

Bend the two rebars to meet in the middle at the post.  The rebar must be bent before the pots are layered.  If not, the pot will crack as you bend the bar.

You will need to cut a piece of rebar to go through the post. Butt the two ends of the rebar together with the piece of rebar in the middle of the post.  Fasten together with a metal gasket that gets tighter as you turn the screw. 

There will be a space of rebar at the top which the pots cannot cover.  Cover the rebar and gaskets with mortar and also dye to the terracotta color. 
}}}}


A nice winter project! Thank you Brad for sharing your instructions. So, who is going to try it?

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Lisa at GreenbowNovember 6, 2010 at 7:56 AM

    This is most interesting but I can't do it here as the winters would destroy the pots. I always admire what people can do with terra cotta. I can't wait to see who else will do this.

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  2. Tallulah's Antique ClosetNovember 6, 2010 at 9:52 AM

    That is cool! I used to go to a nursery years ago in Pasadena. And they woud come up with the best ideas for garden follies. Thanks for sharing....Julian

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  3. CarolNovember 6, 2010 at 10:17 AM

    How very clever! I could not do this either due to winter temps. Frankly though I may think it is amazing I would not want to do it. Much easier ways to make an attractive arbor. Thanks for sharing an incredible idea Phillip. ;>)

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  4. Tatyana@MySecretGardenNovember 6, 2010 at 11:01 AM

    You would think that everything is already invented in the arbor world! How do people get such great ideas?

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  5. Catherine@AGardenerinProgressNovember 6, 2010 at 6:16 PM

    I love it! I hope someone else does try it and we can see how it looks. I wish I had the space for one.

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  6. Dee @ Red Dirt RamblingsNovember 7, 2010 at 5:22 AM

    Cool, and it goes so well with his house.~~Dee

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  7. GailNovember 8, 2010 at 4:45 PM

    That's a fun project~I love how creative people can be~gail

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  8. debsgardenNovember 10, 2010 at 6:57 PM

    An interesting arbor, but not for me! I think the clay pots wouldn't last, and then all that work for nothing. I do like how the green plants look with the pots.

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  9. AnonymousNovember 12, 2010 at 8:32 PM

    Wonder if it could be built without the center post? With the rebar & concrete, you'd think it could be.

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