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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...

Variegated Leaves

Eleagnus "Gilt Edge"

Holly "O'Spring"



 "Gold Child"

Variegated Sedum

Acuba "Gold Dust"

Variegated Euonymous (ground cover)

 
Variegated Shell Ginger

Yucca "Color Guard"

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. I'm planning to bring variegated shell ginger indoors, just a little piece that I can tuck in somewhere.

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  2. Great pics == especially of the ginger and the 'Color Guard' :)

    Having had good luck with the variegated aucuba, I've added a straight species (all green) one to the garden this year. In my experience, they're pretty rare in the trade (at least here in TN).

    If you like variegation, have you tried growing Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Goshiki'? I've just added a couple to the garden this autumn and I'm very impressed so far!

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    Replies
    1. I do have that but I don't think the variegation is that strong. I need to check it.

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  3. You have a nice assortment of variegated foliage. Seeing your Sedum makes my blood boil. I had a variegated sedum and it back to being green. Why does this happen in my garden? I know your garden gets as hot and dry as mine from time to time. WHINE~~~

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  4. I thought I'd answer your question here so you won't miss it. The fountain grass pictured in my last blog post is actually Karly Rose grass. It looks that lovely all summer long, especially with backlighting. It's not really a winter grass though, the seedheads tend to shatter. I do highly recommend it, but after only three years it desperately needs dividing.

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