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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...

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for April

Rhododendron 'Blue Baron'
 

Time seems to be flying and things look a lot difference from last month. We are back to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, a blogger participation event on the 15th of each month hosted by May Dreams Gardens.

And what a way to begin with the vivid violet-blue blooms of Rhododendron 'Blue Baron'. The plant itself is a bit scraggly but the blooms are a show-stopper. This is a small shrub, only about 1 foot tall.

Another beautiful rhododendron that I shared in my last post but deserves another look is 'Taurus'.


 Another beautiful red one - 'Hills Bright Red' -


Barberry 'Orange Rocket' and Spirea 'Ogon'

Clematis armandii

Camellia 'Donation'

Camellia 'Nuccio's Bella Rosa'

 

Rhododendron 'PJM'


Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart'
 

 

Daphne tangutica

Daffodils

 

Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles 'Double Take Orange Storm') and Veronica 'Georgia Blue'

 

A few tulips -




Serviceberry (Amelanchier 'Autumn Brilliance')

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy


Comments

  1. Gorgeous! I can't say there's any overlap between our floral displays unless you count the last of my Narcissus, rapidly beating a retreat in the face of our dry and very warm spring. Seeing your blue rhododendron makes me regret the fact that I haven't managed to grow anything in this genus in my current garden, not even the paltry few Azaleas traditionally sold locally.

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  2. I remember how I longed for Camellia 'Donation' when I moved into this house 30-odd years ago. Could not find it anywhere so I settled for 'Pink Perfection'-long gone now. The shade in my garden is unfortunately totally dictated by the tree canopys of the neighbors to the south and west.

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  3. Very pretty!
    Have a wonderful day!

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  4. Your Vancouver garden is a quite a bit ahead of my north Seattle one. Rhododendron 'Blue Baron' is so striking! I'm still searching for Veronica 'Georgia Blue'.

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  5. What a gorgeous selection of flowers, Phillip. I like the Berberis combined with the Spiraea, that's a great combination. Happy Bloom Day!

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  6. The red of those first two rhodis are almost artificial looking. A beautiful color. Happy GBBD.

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  7. Intense red and blue on the rhodies - so unusual and patriotic. The golden bleeding heart looks almost gawdy to me.
    -Ray

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  8. Not only the flowers, but the photos. Gorgeous!

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  9. Spring is lovely in your garden. Beautiful flowers.

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