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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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Winter beauties

Greetings on this first day of winter! Today is stormy and wet after a rather mild day yesterday. I took a few photos in the garden. There is great beauty to behold in the winter garden if you just look for it. And even some flowers! 

Camellia "Mine No Yuki" (Snow on the Mountain) - Do you see the ladybug?
 
Camellia 'Debutante'







The camellias are expected but I was surprised to see this Creeping Bellflower
(Campanula rapunculoides) blooming. Very odd!
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. UnknownDecember 22, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    Now that is much appreciated. Fantastic pics and wish I had even one bloom still here. Thank you for sharing!!

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  2. FairegardenDecember 22, 2011 at 2:44 PM

    Beautiful flowers and gorgeous captures, Phillip! I did see the little ladybug. The weather has been bizarre.

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  3. scottweberpdxDecember 22, 2011 at 2:52 PM

    What a great surprise...especially that Campanula!

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  4. LarryDecember 22, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    How I wish we could grow camelias... exquisite... Larry

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  5. AnonymousDecember 22, 2011 at 3:19 PM

    I need to go and check my camelias. I haven't walked around and checked thing out since knee surgery. I did go into the greenhouse to water the shrubs I bought on close out and the field mice are chewing the limbs off. I gave the something else to eat and put another one down a couple of days later as the first one was eaten. I need to get rid of them before spring. Two years ago they ate the seeds that I was starting out of the containers and I'm not having that occur again next spring.

    Have a Merry Christmas Phillip and Michael.

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  6. GailDecember 22, 2011 at 3:23 PM

    happy Christmas Phillip and Michael, I hope the season is filled with goodness for you both, gail PS pretty flowers.

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  7. Anne BoykinDecember 22, 2011 at 6:01 PM

    Happy Holidays! Thanks for your great gardening posts, always enjoy them. Anne

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  8. CarolDecember 23, 2011 at 9:52 AM

    Merry Christmas Phillip! Lovely to see your beautiful blooms! Sigh!
    Peace.
    Carol

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  9. LesDecember 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM

    Our Camellias are look good here also. I hope they don't all pop open too soon though. Merry Christmas to you both.

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  10. DavidDecember 23, 2011 at 8:05 PM

    Wishing you and Michael a "Very Merry Christmas" and a "Happy New Year".

    Cynthia & David

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  11. sweetbayDecember 23, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    Those Bellflowers are exquisite. Exquisite image of the pink camellia too. Just lovely.

    Merry Christmas!

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  12. ConnorDecember 24, 2011 at 7:11 AM

    So lucky! I would do anything to be able to grow Camellia here! When i lived in ATL we had so many. Nothing in Nashville winter blooms!
    Great photos as usual!

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  13. DDecember 24, 2011 at 11:11 AM

    Beautiful blossoms still! Merry Christmas to you and your family, Phillip. May 2012 be kind to us all and bring continued well-being.

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  14. Gardener on Sherlock StreetDecember 24, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    Flowers on the first day of winter. What a wonderful find!

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  15. Becca's DirtDecember 24, 2011 at 7:01 PM

    Merry Christmas Phillip.

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