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
Labels

Southeast Portland Mini-Tour



A recent HPSO Mini-Tour included four gardens in the Southeast Portland area. 

First, Christine Weaver's garden with winding pathways was full of perennials, vines, carnivorous plants and cacti -








Next up is Jeanne DeBenedetti Keyes' naturalistic, waterwise garden with a collection of native plants. The back garden is a lush, Chinese-influenced, walled garden -








The third garden was Renee Moog's enchanting and whimsical 1/3 acre garden with beautiful plantings enhanced with garden art, including glass bottle walls and floors, and a fantastic water feature -












And finally, the Happy Valley garden of Jennifer Buss emphasizes four-season interest, low-maintenance plantings, and some bonsai specimens (unfortunately my phone battery was depleted and I didn't get many photos) -



 (Visited August 17, 2025)

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 27, 2025 at 7:54 AM

    I love the stone figure with the basket on its head for collected treasures!
    Chavli

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kris PetersonAugust 27, 2025 at 10:10 AM

    You have such beautiful gardens in the PNW and people are so generous in opening their gardens. I love the Sempervivium artwork and the excellent use of recycled bottles.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesAugust 27, 2025 at 1:51 PM

    Great photos, Philip! You captured some very lovely vignettes. You've got a great eye. Thanks for coming out. It was good to see you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverAugust 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM

      Thanks Jeanne and thank you for opening your garden. I enjoyed it!

      Delete
  4. JerrySeptember 2, 2025 at 8:05 AM

    Wow, I am enchanted with Renee Moog's garden. That shed and the creative way she used bottles. I will have to keep an eye out for future open garden events there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverSeptember 2, 2025 at 8:20 AM

      Yes, very creative! I enjoyed that one. If you get a chance, do try to go.

      Delete

Post a Comment