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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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December bouquet

Another extremely mild weekend with temperatures in the 70s. A change is on the way though with rain coming tomorrow and much colder winter-like temperatures. We need the rain. It has been very dry lately.

I noticed there were lots of roses and camellias blooming right now and picked some yesterday.

 In the bouquet are roses "Mrs. B.R. Cant", "Knockout" and "Mrs. Dudley Cross". The camellias are "Pink Icicle" and "Debutante".

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Gardener on Sherlock StreetDecember 9, 2012 at 1:49 PM

    That is a beautiful bouquet. Enjoy them. I agree with you on the need of rain. We are below freezing today. Cold front rolled through this morning. Have a nice week.

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowDecember 9, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    What a sight for these color starved eyes. Beautiful. It is warmer than usual here but not as warm as your area. We need rain too. Good luck.

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  3. outlawgardenerDecember 9, 2012 at 2:50 PM

    I'd happily give you some of our rain! Beautiful boquet from a magical time in your garden - roses and camellias blooming atthe same time. Sweet.

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  4. sandaDecember 9, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    What a treat - roses in December! They are beautiful.

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  5. HolleyGardenDecember 10, 2012 at 9:14 AM

    Gorgeous! Roses and camellias are my two favorites, and it's so wonderful when they bloom together! I hope you get some much-needed rain.

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  6. RandyDecember 10, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    Just beautiufl Phillip! I'm getting a Debutante. I don't know where it's going, but I'm getting one. LOL My neighbor has two huge ones!

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  7. AnonymousDecember 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM

    Zowie! I was hoping there'd be roses and camellias when I came to visit. How did your grocery shopping trip go btw. I saw you were excited about the new store on FB.~~Dee

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  8. organicgardendreamsDecember 14, 2012 at 8:28 AM

    Hi Phillip, what a beautiful bouquet! I think it is so wonderful that you are able to pick a bouquet like this from your garden at this time of the year. It beats the store bought florist bouquets any time. My favorite blooms from this little plonk are the Mrs. B. R. Cant rose and the Debutante Camellia. Thanks for sharing!
    Christina

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  9. GailDecember 14, 2012 at 3:30 PM

    Those are delicious roses! We've had very cold weather there's nothing left blooming.

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  10. AnonymousDecember 15, 2012 at 5:37 AM

    I'm using up the last of my tomatoes I picked before the killing freeze. It'll be officially winter when my last one is gone.

    The camellia and roses have been a beautiful sight around the Shoals this year.

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  11. RobinLDecember 17, 2012 at 4:48 PM

    How wonderful it must be to still have roses in bloom. Although we are having a mild December, we've had a few hard frosts, so no roses for me. But there are still pansies around, so I can't complain. I wish camellias bloomed up here!

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