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

Sebright Gardens



I've wanted to visit Sebright Gardens in Brooks, Oregon since moving here and finally got the chance this week - many thanks to my friend Linda who invited me on this excursion. It has been eons since I've ventured beyond the house and workplace and it was fun getting away. We also stopped at the Rogerson Clematis Garden and I will share photos of it later.

Sebright Gardens specializes in hostas, epimedium and ferns. I was mainly interested in seeing their display gardens but of course I could not escape without buying something. I did practice restraint, however, and only purchased one epimedium and one fern. I did look at the hostas but so many varieties was frankly overwhelming and I gave up.

The bright midday sun was discouraging for good photos and I'm afraid these are not the best. Hopefully they will give you an idea of the wide array of plants. I was astounded by trees and shrubs, most of them unfamiliar to me.









The retail area for visitors doesn't fully include all of their plants. Many have to be requested in advance or through mail order. Here is a glimpse of the hostas in a holding area, off limits to the public -




And hostas in the greenhouse - as far as the eye can see! -


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post

Comments

  1. ElaineJuly 16, 2023 at 7:35 AM

    I agree with you on the number of hosta cultivars out there. The specimens at Seabright look incredibly lush and happy. I admire your restraint as it must have been hard to not bring any back. Lovely display gardens.

    ReplyDelete
  2. danger gardenJuly 16, 2023 at 9:29 AM

    But you didn't tell us what you bought!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverJuly 16, 2023 at 5:00 PM

      Oh yeah - Epimedium 'Waterfall' and Golden Zebra Fern

      Delete
  3. Kris PetersonJuly 16, 2023 at 1:00 PM

    What a beautiful nursery!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hoover BooJuly 17, 2023 at 4:37 PM

    Oh my! No wonder you've been wanting to visit. Such beautiful Hostas--as well as everything else.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment