Skip to main content

Featured

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...
2 comments
Read more
Labels

A bit of snow

Colorado Blue Spruce 'Globosa' and Deodar Cedar 'Feelin Blue'

 

It was snowing hard when I went to bed late Saturday night and we woke up to a nice dusting. It didn't last long and was almost completely gone by the time I made it outside to get some photos. We are getting loads of rain which is good. It still has not really felt like winter though and has just barely hit the freezing mark.
 
And Merry Christmas to me! I've been wanting one of these for a long time -

Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph'


 


 The new back fence is festive, thanks to Michael. He made the bows and the wreath.

 

Other plants of note -

Beautyberry 'Profusion' (Callicarpa). I didn't think birds liked these berries but I saw some on it last week. Now that I've moved my computer to face out the front window, it is amazing what you see!


Fatsia japonica


Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Goshiki’

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)

African Honey Bush (Melianthus major)

Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'

Mugo Pine 'Aurea' (Pinus mugo)

New Zealand Orange Sedge (Carex testacea)

Pinus strobus 'Nana Blue Shag'

St. John's Wort (Hypericum inodorum 'Pumpkin')

Phormium 'Rainbow Queen' and Persicaria 'Red Dragon'

The big chartreuse plant in the middle is Himalayan Honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa 'Jealousy'). I'm planning on moving it toward the back of the wall soon.


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment