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...
Phillip tell me about the rose campion. I just ordered seeds of a white rose campion and would love to know how it does for you. Sun or shade? Self seeding? Any info would be helpful. I am really focused on filling in the white garden here.
ReplyDeleteDavid, it is a wonderful old fashioned annual that reseeds freely. It does fine in my garden with just a little sun - maybe 3 or 4 hours a day. It may pop up in surprising places but you can easily pull it out.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beauty. Any nibbles on your house?
ReplyDeleteVery nice Phillip! Any bites on the house yet?
ReplyDeleteLisa and Carol, a few lookers but nothing serious yet. I am afraid the garden is going to be a liability. :(
ReplyDeleteI love that China Doll rose! I like it combined with the bright Rose Campion.
ReplyDeleteAre you serious?? It's CRAZY that your beautiful garden is seen as a liability.
ReplyDeleteIs it because people are intimidated by the idea of maintaining it? Or do that many people really prefer a sterile lawn?
As for rose campion, I feel like a failure because I've tried direct sowing it a few times in the garden and have never gotten any results. (Either that or I've mistaken the seedlings for weeds and accidentally killed them, which of course is a possibility.)
I probably need to find annual seedlings someday, plant them and then let them self-sow...
the right person will come along. one that will take good care of it!
ReplyDeleteAaron, I am sure it would be the maintenance! There are not a lot of people that enjoy that! haha
ReplyDeleteBeautiful roses :)
ReplyDeleteHave you decided if any of your roses will be coming with you when you move?
Not really Emily!
ReplyDeletePhillip, You shared a rose with me several years ago and I believe it is the weeping china doll. It is very ruffled and I used it to make some beautiful arrangements for a church luncheon. You weren't sure at the time what rose you were sharing. Just wanted to say thanks. Sherry
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