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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...

April, the angel of the months...


“April, the angel of the months, the young love of the year.”
 – Vita Sackville-West

I like this quote and it is from one of my favorite people so I thought that would be a nicer title than my first choice - "Spreading Manure". 

Spreading manure is how I spent most of the weekend. What a beautiful weekend it has been. The garden is all of a sudden wide awake with no remnants of winter left.

I drove out to South Ridge Farms in Ridgefield on Friday and got a load of horse manure and later went back for another. Beautiful stuff -



Some of my favorite plants in the garden now...

My favorite lavender is 'Platinum Blonde'. It has never bloomed that much but the foliage more than makes up for that...



Magnolia 'Fairy White' - a new series of magnolias. I thought I would keep this in a pot but I am having second thoughts. I'd love to find a place in the ground. I'm looking and thinking...



Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' is just an amazing plant and looks better every year.



The rhododendrons are just beginning to bloom. This is 'Unique Variegated' that I bought at Gossler Farms a few years ago -



'Schipka' Cherry Laurel, probably the most overused plant in the region, but it does have some admirable qualities. I do love the flowers (so do the bees) and the fast-growing privacy screen it provides -



Viburnum davidii which some might argue is THE most over-used plant 



Barberry 'Orange Rocket' with the Red Currant still going strong in the background -



Daphne 'Carol Mackie' sooooo fragrant!



The pink dogwood was the only mature tree on the property when we moved in. Most years, the flowers have been erratic, sometimes appearing only at the top or bottom of the tree, but this year it is perfect -



Looking up the terraces, it looks a bit chaotic at the moment before the plants leaf out completely -



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. Angel indeed! The horse manure is clearly making your garden happy. I've never seen that lavender before, dang that foliage is beautiful. The Magnolia doesn't even look real, it's so perfect. :). So happy for Spring!

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  2. Yes,! "Angel" smells better than manure! But, your garden will love it! Our pink dogwood did well this year, as well. Beats the spring when the blossoms never came out because it was too cold. I love watching your garden unfold each year, Phillip! Debbie

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  3. Your April garden is doing you proud, Phillip! I love that dogwood tree.

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  4. Viburnum davidii... Maybe it's over-used but only because it is so very hardy. Although ordinary in our region I love the cool fruit.
    The shot up the steps is great. It seems to go on forever.
    Chavli

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    Replies
    1. And the fact that it is a nice-looking shrub. I'm always surprised that many dismiss it.

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