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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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Potting Amaryllis


I love growing amaryllis but I never get them planted early enough for a Christmas bloom. To do that, you need to get them potted at least 6-8 weeks before. So, once again, I will anticipate blooms in January. 

For now, I've placed them in our plant window that extends out the kitchen window. Once they begin to grow tall, I may have to move them to another location.


This year, I have three different varieties and I am also experimenting with pot sizes (mainly because I did not have three of the same size on hand). 

Amaryllis like to be pot-bound so that should not be a problem with my two smallest pots. Even the largest pot is not really that big so it should suffice. 

The varieties are -

'La Paz'

'Naranja'



'Red Peacock'







Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonNovember 29, 2022 at 5:29 PM

    Mine arrived later than I'd expected (even though pre-ordered in August) and, as all my pots are sitting outside, they're not getting the warmth they want to push them into bloom quickly in any case. Only one, a dwarf variety, has begun to sprout so I suspect it'll be January or later before I see flowers also. I went crazy and ordered a total of 18 (8 varieties), one trio of which was 'La Paz'. Some will be gifts...

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowNovember 30, 2022 at 4:12 AM

    You have some beautiful colors of amaryllis. I might even try one this winter. It is nice to have January blooms, something to look forward to. Everything is so grey and brown here.

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  3. Hoover BooNovember 30, 2022 at 10:47 AM

    Have always wanted 'La Paz' and never can seem to find any Cybister type. What a beauty! You can always save the bulbs and time them next year to flower at Christmas. The method is somewhere on the internet. Here easier to plant them in the ground--they are dropping their foliage now, will wake up in March and flower in April.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 30, 2022 at 11:56 AM

    I've had unusually good luck planting amaryllis in cylindrical glass vases. Sometimes called "hurricane candle holders" I used 5" wide x 12" tall. I put a few inches of gravel in the bottom, then some soil surrounding the bulb and leave them on a windowsill. After they bloom and the leaves have completely died and dried, I put the entire thing in a dark closet. This is my 3rd year with some of them, so it will be interesting to see if they bloom. Leaves have emerged, so that's a good sign. Happy Holidays Phillip and Michael!

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    1. Phillip OliverNovember 30, 2022 at 3:11 PM

      Interesting - do you leave it in the closet all year? I've tried keeping them by planting outside and bringing them back in during the Fall but haven't had luck. I've seen photos of the glass vases. I need to try that.

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