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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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A Visit to Lux Perennials



I've been wanting to visit Lux Perennials for years now and finally got a chance last week. In a word - Wow!

The nursery is located at the owner's home, located west of Portland, up in the hills on Skyline Blvd. The property is breathtaking with fantastic views. A small nursery features perennials propagated from plants in the garden. There were also some plants from commercial sources, notably Proven Winners.

I mainly was interested in the display garden but of course I did end up buying some plants. Of course!

The nursery is located on the front side of the house and the garden is behind it. Taking the path leading back to the garden, the first thing I spotted was this stunning Monkey Puzzle Tree. Michael has wanted one of them for ages. I finally bought one last year and have it in a pot. I have no idea where such a thing would fit in our garden. Fact - the first time I ever heard of the Monkey Puzzle Tree was in one of my all-time favorite films (and one of the few films that makes me cry) - "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947). 

The phenonemal Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana). This view is looking back toward the nursery, located left of the greenhouse. The pathway I'm on leads back to the garden.

A very friendly employee greeted me and told me how to get to the garden with the request that I lock the gate so that the chickens did not get out. Now that I think about it, I never saw a chicken. My attention, however, was riveted on the English-style garden.

The garden is beautifully laid out and filled with things that I love - terraces, stone steps and a rill!


A wisteria-covered pergola separates a grassy pathway to a circular perennial garden.






The pathway leads around a pond. I think the tree on the left is a Corkscrew Willow. 

Winding around the pathway, you come to the bottom of the property. This view is looking upward toward the house.


Coming back around to the opposite side. The curved wall at the bottom surrounds a fire pit.


What a rill!

At the top of the rill. 







Back on the nursery side, a shade garden sits on a low hill. 

The dark-colored trees in back are Chocolate Mimosas.

A view of the nursery

So, I know someone will ask what I got -

Caster Bean 'New Zealand Purple' (I've wanted this for ages and always forget to buy seed)
Amaranth 'Red Garnet'
Euphorbia Robbiae - A groundcover euphorbia? I had never seen it before.
Chinese Foxglove 'Rufus'

I don't know why it took me so long to visit but I'm happy I did and would love to return at different times of the year. The nursery is open on weekends. Check their website for more details. They are also on Instagram and Facebook.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonAugust 28, 2024 at 8:44 PM

    That's one spectacular garden! And it looks like the nursery offers interesting plants, although I suspect I might find half the plants in the PNW different and interesting...I was thinking that I'd love to have a groundcover Euphorbia and then it occurred to me that I already have one that would qualify on my back slope, E. 'Dean's Hybrid'.

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  2. tz_gardenAugust 29, 2024 at 8:38 AM

    Holy cow, this is unreal. *Thanks for the movie recommendation, I hadn't heard of it and just watched a trailer on Youtube. Beautiful garden and crazy spectacular views here, the chickens have it pretty good!

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