Open Garden at 'Devonia' - 2018
By AndrewR
12 comments
After deciding on the date the previous year, it seemed a long time to come around, but finally we opened the garden on 19th August
‘Devonia’ is described as “a garden …. that requires no watering”, and after the summer we have had, many people visited to see what was still flourishing after the hottest and driest summer for more than 40 years
The path up to the front door
The borders on the opposite of the front drive. The blue flowered shrub, vitex agnus-castus generated a lot of questions and comments, along with the orange flower of hedychium ‘Tara’
A shady path leading to the revamped border mentioned in my previous blogs
Barney looked a little worried to see so many people in the garden
But Bruno kept him company
There are certain plants that always elicit questions, and this year’s ‘favourite’ was luma apiculata, an evergreen tree from Chile, related to myrtle
Every time we open, there is always a ‘surprise’ plant that visitors are asking about, one that I hadn’t expected. This year, it was the annual arctotis ‘Flame’
A final look at the back garden, then off to the plant sales for a souvenir of your visit
We were hoping we might get 100 visitors, but the finally tally was 157, a record for us when opening for the NGS, and we have raised in excess of £1300, with a few donations still to come.
20 Aug, 2018
11 likes
Previous post: Revamping a Border (Part 2)
Next post: Autumn Blues
Comments
I certainly enjoyed my visit and the plant sales came first! You have a beautiful garden Andrew.
20 Aug, 2018
Congratulations..... you did very well Andrew, despite the unusually hot Summer, and the revamped border looks pretty good for its first year.....our garden is never at its best in August,we had visitors booked in on the 14th and the garden was certainly not up to its usual standard, and we were watering every other day!! well done.
20 Aug, 2018
Yes, August can be a difficult month but your garden is clearly flourishing and I agree with Pb, love the pond! Many congratulations on the splendid financial result!
20 Aug, 2018
Glad you enjoyed your visit Thorneyside. Did you get to the other garden for the cake?
DD and Stera - I have made a conscious decision in the last couple of years to plant things that either flower very early in the year, or later in the growing season - the rest of the year pretty much looks after itself. Also, knowing we were going to open in August, I revamped that one border to put on a good show for then. I will now add one or two things to extend the display in it, possibly hellebores for spring and candelabra primulas for early summer
20 Aug, 2018
What a beautiful garden for you and all who visited it. I too love your raised pond and the area around it.
You did really well and raised a huge amount.
20 Aug, 2018
Andrew, I must say that everything in your garden is looking so vibrant after the hot Summer of late. Loved seeing Bruno and Barney too!
21 Aug, 2018
Well done Andrew, you did so well. I like your vitex agnus-castus too.
21 Aug, 2018
Brilliant, Andrew. What an amazing sum to raise.
Love your pond.
21 Aug, 2018
so glad you had a successful day and such good numbers too. I do wish I could get down to see it in the flesh.
22 Aug, 2018
I didn't get to the other garden or allotments Andrew. A step too far for me as I've had a "dodgy" knee for the last two weeks. It didn't matter, it was worth the cost to see your garden and plants plus I bought a Persicaria virginiana 'Painter's Palette' and Amelopsis Brevipedunculata ‘Elegans’ home with me. Well happy!
23 Aug, 2018
Well done !
23 Aug, 2018
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A fantastic result: well done! I love the photo of your raised pond with the revamped border looking stately in the background.
20 Aug, 2018