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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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Anticipation



This is exciting! I have wanted an orange ginger lily for as long as I can remember. I tried growing it in Alabama and never got a bloom. I do have a white ginger (Hedychium spicatum) that has had a few blooms. A few years ago, someone told me that 'Tara' is the only one that will reliably bloom here. I don't know if that it true but I finally got one this year (thank you Dancing Oaks!). Planted in April next to our South foundation and given ample water, I can hardly believe it, but it looks like a bloom is imminent - in its first year!

I'm holding my breath...


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonAugust 1, 2025 at 12:20 PM

    I'd be excited too! My fingers are crossed on your behalf.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 1, 2025 at 12:38 PM

    oooh, gutsy move to mention it before it's actually blooming. If I did that, I'd jinx it somehow and then no flower. I hope you have better luck! Maybe my comment will cancel out any jinx.

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  3. tz_gardenAugust 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM

    Fantastic! I can't wait to see - isn't it great when things work out :)

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  4. Ardith FergusonAugust 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM

    Exciting! I can't wait to see your photos of the bloom.

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  5. AnonymousAugust 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM

    Their culture confuses me a bit. Here in GA, I juggle heat, sunlight, and moisture levels for my white one. Best bloom was in sandy soil and 5-6 hrs morning sun near an irrigation head. Pretty much won’t bloom in my woodland area, though.
    I’ve also got a variegated one that may never bloom but is lovely. All day high shade.

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    1. Phillip OliverAugust 5, 2025 at 12:20 PM

      I've always thought of them as shade plants, too. Here, many plants will tolerate more sun because of the cooler temperatures. I had my white ginger in a lot of shade because the nursery selling it said that it was good in shade, but I moved it to a sunnier location. I think it is going to bloom as well.

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