A few damp days in lovely Devon

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Visited my daughter in Devon last week. Lovely county. Gorgeous views. Many interesting places to visit. The only downside is that whenever we visit we get rained on. Daughter lives in the shadow of Dartmoor and the morning mizzle can wet you quite thoroughly on the 200 yard round trip to the shop for the paper.
I thought you might like to share this photo of Sticklepath’s crowning glory – their magnificent Oak Tree. Its spread reaches over my daughter’s garden giving her husband plenty of work clearing the leaves at this time of year.

A visit to Rosemoor is a must when in this area. It is obviously not at its best at this time of year but there is still plenty of colour and interest.
I shot this Dahlia “Bishop of Oxford” (with and without Bee) because I had bought a “Bishop of Llandaff” this year. The reason I bought “Llandaff) was that I had been told that a relative of my grand-father had been a Bishop of Llandaff. It was only after returning from Devon that I Googled the rose and to my amazement, discovered that it was named after Bishop Pritchard Hughes – my surname. I wonder!! More research required. Oxford will be alongside Llandaff next year.


Another Dahlia that caught my eye was this gorgeous “Chat Noir” – must have one!

Told Elaine this was Giant Devonshire rhubarb. Why does she never believe me? lol

Tagetes “Scotch Prize”

Trycertes formosana

Leycestria formosa

Fuschia “Hawkshead”. One for you Hywel? I’ve looked through your huge collection but could not find it.

I’m not a gourd grower so I was amazed to learn that these were only planted at the end of June! Do they really grow to this size in four months?

We visited the excellent Homeleigh Garden Centre near Launceston where Elaine asked about a plant which is in our neighbour’s garden alongside our fence and which we were all unable to name. Many thanks to the very helpful young lady who satisfied her curiosity – Clerodendrum Trichotomum Harlequin Glory Bower. Gorgeous! – but apparently quite invasive so I imagine it will soon be on our side of the fence.

Buckfast Abbey. The old, monks’ gardens were interesting. The Lavender garden displayed 150 varieties. The Sensory Garden must be sheer delight in the Summer, judging by the exquisite fragrance of the flowers still in bloom. The heavily scented roses were especially invigorating. The Physic Garden contained over 200 herbs and plants used by the monks for medicinal purposes, among other things and the markers offered much good advice and dire warnings of the (sometimes surprising) toxicity of many of them. No photos of the gardens unfortunately. Our tour was all too hurried as the Dartmoor rain made another appearance.

Holidays are great but it’s good to be back home. Loozie thinks so too. (Old photo)

• 29 Oct, 2009
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