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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...

Hortlandia!



If you love plants, you don't want to miss one of the biggest plant sales of the year this weekend at the Expo Center in Portland. Hortandia 2019 is the 31st year for the event. Admission is free and you don't even have to be a member of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon to attend although I encourage you to consider joining this wonderful organization (you can do so at the event).

Nurseries from all over the region (over 90!) will be there. You will kind many unique and choice vendors like Far Reaches Farm, Joy Creek, Gossler Farms, Cistus, and Dancing Oaks just to name a few. 

A lecture series, Grow With Us Lecture Series, will also take place and includes the following:

  • Cory Jarrell: “Houseplant Care with the Plant Nerdist” / 10:30am Saturday
  • Judith Jones: “Ferns Beyond Shady Borders” / 12pm Saturday
  • Riz Reyes: “Plants for Year-Round Flower Arranging” / 1:30pm Saturday
  • Laura Heldreth: “Made in the Shade” / 10:30am Sunday
  • Janis McBride: “The Gift of Orchids” / 12pm Sunday
  • Linda Beutler: “Some Like it Hot - Clematis” / 1:30 Sunday
There is also art and book sales and the book sale table is where you will find me on both days. The book and art sales areas will open at 9am, one hour before the plant sale begins. Please stop by and introduce yourself if you read my blog. See you there!

Time: 10am - 3pm (book and art sales open at 9am)
Place: Portland Expo Center, Hall E

A room map and vendor cross-reference list is now available for download here!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

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