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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...
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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - August 2022

Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus)

Is it the 15th already? Yes it is. Time for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. I haven't had a chance to photograph everything in the garden so I just have a few this month. For more gardens and bloom, check out May Dreams Gardens.

My favorite plant at the moment is the amazing Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus), pictured above and below. I absolutely love this plant and so do the bees. I hate that I don't have the variety name. Another view -


Allium 'Milennium'

'Casa Blanca' Lily

Canna 'Panache'

Four O'Clocks (Mirabilia jalapa)

Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)


Rugosa Rose 'Purple Pavement'

Rose 'Marie Pavie'

Zooming in, you can see flowers forming on  Clerodendrum trichotomum 
(Harlequin Glorybower) (Peanut Butter Tree)


Rose 'Ballerina'

Rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton'

Rose 'Lady of Shalott'

Fuchsia 'Lady Boothby'

A very unusual fuchsia, Creeping Fuchsia (Fuchsia procumbens)



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. Kris PetersonAugust 15, 2022 at 8:28 PM

    All your Bloom Day selections are fabulous, Phillip. I've begun to despair that my Chaste Tree will ever grow up to look anything like yours. After nearly 5 years in the ground I don't think mine is over a foot tall - it's not dead but I don't think it likes SoCal at all. Ditto with respect to my 'Lady Emma Hamilton' rose but then I'm coming close to giving up all my roses...

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  2. AnonymousAugust 16, 2022 at 10:58 AM

    The best fragrance comes from the Rugosa Rose 'Purple Pavement', but it's 'Lady Emma Hamilton' that wins by a (color) knock-out! And as impressive as Joe-Pye is, it's Pan's tradescantia pallida throne that totally stole the show for me.
    chavli

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  3. Hoover BooAugust 16, 2022 at 6:40 PM

    Your Vitex looks great. 'Lady Emma' another highlight. Looks like your garden is standing up to summer, no problem. Hope you have a beautiful rest of summer, and then the colors of autumn to anticipate!

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  4. YvonneAugust 19, 2022 at 8:50 PM

    The beautiful mixture of blooming plants makes your garden look so inviting. The Chaste Tree is an amazing accent.

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