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Agatha Christie's Greenway (Devon, England) - The House

I can think of two places that we visited where I enjoyed the house more than the gardens. The first was Greenway, not for the house itself, which was surprisingly small and cramped, but for the history behind it and the fascinating mementos on display. Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan were enthusiastic collectors. You can see their collections on display throughout the house - European and Oriental ceramics, pottery, African tribal masks, Egyptian artifacts, Tunbridge ware, china, trinkets, and books. The Morning Room has a portrait of Agatha Christie as a child and her doll Rosie, sitting in a chair - The Drawing Room was where the family would gather in the evenings. Christie would entertain guests by reading chapters from manuscripts of her latest books.  Agatha Christie's bedroom. Max always slept on a smaller portable traveling cot (you can see part of it in the foreground). It was his favorite bed and he carried it with him on all of his archaeological travels. N...
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Back to the bagworms

I was looking at my blog statistics and I noticed that a lot of visitors got here by typing "bagworms" in their search query. Now is the time that they raise their ugly heads and damage becomes very noticeable. I wrote a post last year about my experiences with them. Fortunately, I have not seen any on my evergreens this year.  However, there is a Leland Cypress hedge across the street from us and I could clearly see the telltale brown dying branches and the disgusting bagworms hanging from them. This is a rental property and last year they had to cut down a row of Leland Cypress on the opposite side of the property. You can spray with Malathion now although it is more effective is done earlier in the spring when eggs are being laid. Hand picking is also effective but sometimes this might not be practicable if the plants are too large. Whatever method you choose, you must take action or else the plants will soon be toast. For more information, refer to my previous post.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. greggoJuly 12, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    I guess it good to be famous for something. lol

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  2. DarlaJuly 13, 2011 at 3:13 AM

    I just posted in my post before last my very first bagworm cocoon, hadn't a clue what they were....it was hanging on one of my climbing roses.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deborah Younglao, Silk PainterJuly 13, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    We seem to get them every other year, on one particular oak tree. Just noticed the first one yesterday, so I guess we're in for them this year. What gets me is that the critters themselves are so tiny! Why do they need to build such a big house?

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  4. Rob (ourfrenchgarden)July 16, 2011 at 7:06 AM

    These sound like a real pain in the arse.

    Good news that you don't seem to have any this year. Hope it stays that way.

    ReplyDelete

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