Skip to main content

Featured

Agatha Christie's Greenway (Devon, England) - The House

I can think of two places that we visited where I enjoyed the house more than the gardens. The first was Greenway, not for the house itself, which was surprisingly small and cramped, but for the history behind it and the fascinating mementos on display. Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan were enthusiastic collectors. You can see their collections on display throughout the house - European and Oriental ceramics, pottery, African tribal masks, Egyptian artifacts, Tunbridge ware, china, trinkets, and books. The Morning Room has a portrait of Agatha Christie as a child and her doll Rosie, sitting in a chair - The Drawing Room was where the family would gather in the evenings. Christie would entertain guests by reading chapters from manuscripts of her latest books.  Agatha Christie's bedroom. Max always slept on a smaller portable traveling cot (you can see part of it in the foreground). It was his favorite bed and he carried it with him on all of his archaeological travels. N...
1 comment
Read more
Labels

Heirloom Roses (St. Paul, Oregon)

heirloom-roses-1
When we first started our garden in Alabama, we fell in love with antique roses. We ended up with a hundred or so and some of them came from Heirloom Roses in St. Paul, Oregon by mail order. Now that we are living in Washington state, Heirloom Roses, as well as many of the other great plant nurseries, are within driving distance.

Last week, we drove down to St. Paul, about 45 minutes south of Portland, to see the nursery and the display gardens. The Oregon countryside is absolutely gorgeous. It is just one farm after another. Fields of fruit orchards, grapes, hops, conifers, blueberries, and strawberries are just a few of the crops that we passed on our way.

It has been a while since I purchased roses. The first thing I've noticed is that they are much more expensive now. Heirloom's roses are $40 for a gallon pot and $27 for a quart sized pot. Actually, if you are ordering by mail, this is a good deal because they do not charge extra for shipping. I was a bit surprised though that the roses at their retail nursery are the same price! We could not find the roses we wanted at the nursery (they had an open house the previous weekend and had sold out of most of their varieties) but after we got home, I visited their website and they were available. I guess they have a separate inventory for mail-order. Anyway, I ordered a few and actually thought that the roses that arrived later in the mail looked better than the ones they had in their greenhouse. So, if you are shopping at Heirloom, I could recommend mail-order.

On the other hand, if you actually visit, you get to see their beautiful display gardens. Here are a few photos. 
 heirloom-roses-4 heirloom-roses-7 heirloom-roses-10 heirloom-roses-11 heirloom-roses-12 heirloom-roses-8 heirloom-roses-6 heirloom-roses-5 heirloom-roses-2 Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. Lisa at GreenbowMay 23, 2016 at 3:50 AM

    When I see roses like this I crave them but I have never had a rose that grew like this. I have given up on them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hoover BooMay 25, 2016 at 11:25 AM

    $40 for a gallon size. OMG.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment