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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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Chrysanthemum "Ryan Gainey"

This plant used to reside next to the walk near the front door but it suffered from too much shade. After the debacle with the cryptomeria, I had more room and moved it here. The additional sun has helped tremendously and it is loaded with blooms and the stems are not stretching for the sun rays.





Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. DarlaOctober 25, 2011 at 11:40 AM

    Beautiful! They do like their vitamin D.

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  2. UnknownOctober 25, 2011 at 1:10 PM

    It seems really happy there. Plants look sooo much better without lanky flower stems.

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  3. Peggy HillOctober 25, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    I know you were sorry to see that big cryptomeria go, but there is always a silver lining.

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  4. GailOctober 25, 2011 at 5:24 PM

    Phillip, I have Ryan Gainey and love the yellow. Your stand looks lovely. gail

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  5. Lisa at GreenbowOctober 26, 2011 at 5:33 AM

    Beautiful blooms. I am glad you found just the right spot for it.

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  6. rebeccaOctober 27, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    Gorgeous!

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  7. CarolOctober 28, 2011 at 11:15 AM

    Beautiful portrait Phillip. How fun to see Ryan immortalized in a flower. It is amazing to see how far reaching his roots have become over the years. I love the many multi petaled composites. I should love to have him in my garden . . . I wonder if it is hardy here.

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  8. InstantSandbagsNovember 7, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    Those are lovely blooms. It must have taken love for those plants to produce such amazing flowering. However, with the unpredictable weather those plants should be protected at all cost and one of the best way is to protect it though an instant sandbags should there strong torrential rain that can flood the your flower beds.

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