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...
Stunning! I guess they don't need to be tucked under the trees like they do at LaRue's!
ReplyDeleteOh my, these are just glorious. I just love rhodies. Unfortunately I have never been able to grow them. I can't figure out why. When I drive through town this time of year I see them blooming their heads off here and there. These photos make me want to try again.
ReplyDeleteHi Phillip, these rhododendron are spectacular, indeed! I just love them!
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of our visit at Stourhead an amazing garden in England, where I saw the most mature and stunning rhododendrons in my life. I am sure you would have enjoyed a visit there as well.
Anyhow, back to the rhodies in the nursery. How could you restrain yourself from buying them all?
Warm regards,
Christina
Yowza! Those rhododendrons are incredible! Now you need some at your new place, am I right?
ReplyDeleteThose rhodies are gorgeous!
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