Garden Tour With A Secret Ingredient

We stumbled upon a wonderful garden tour on the weekend. The theme was rural properties (my favourite) and it just so happened that every home owner happened to both live on a farm, (some were farmers, others rented the land out), and all were artists/craftspeople of one kind or another. Excellent combination. And we discovered yet another great area fairly nearby we didn't know about. The first property (shown here) was so lovely I could have just stayed forever, no questions asked. It's an 1850's renovated farm house on many acres. The house is situated on a hill overlooking a river and valley. When we were viewing the side garden with its pond and waterfall, I could not believe the size of the perennials like this phlox which is about five feet tall and really wide:

That's when the homeowner told me that garden was just three years old, my jaw dropped, and we got into such a good conversation that I neglected to take many photos. But I got a few... So how in the world does he get his plants so tall?

SHEEP MANURE. And lots of it. He's a sheep farmer. He lets the manure compost a good long time so there's no risk of burning the plant roots (I think he said it takes three years), and then he piles it into the garden beds. And that's all he does. The results are astonishing. His dahlia bed has dozens of varieties. Each one you examine becomes the absolute favourite of that moment:

Some of the flowers get 14" wide in diameter. Before he plants the bulbs each spring he takes the backhoe and dumps in a mass of manure. Those dahlias can't help but reach great heights. Heck, I think I was a bit taller just standing there.

The inside of the house was a perfect mix of a top notch renovation that protected the best of the original house with some timeless modern touches. I didn't manage a decent photo of the two-storey kitchen but it was to-die-for (words will not suffice). Here's one washroom:

Some of the antiques were originally from the house and repurchased from antiques dealers to bring them back home:

I probably should have jumped in the pool to ward off my delighted envy:

On the way out we thanked these guys for doing such a great job with the garden. The farmer said their wool is not worth much but obviously they have other assets:

There were several other farms on this tour. I'll see if I have enough photos to show some in an upcoming post. Honestly, I am such a country nutkin, I was just trying to take it all in rather than capture it on camera, though I did seriously consider sneaking a few sheep home with me....

Related Entries:
There's a complete listing of my virtual garden tours here
The 2006 Blooming Cycle - my attempt to record blooming times.

I keep track of garden weirdness here
See my garden art/junk. And there's a second part here.
Do you have a picture to add to the Garden Shed Hall of Fame?
Mirrors in the garden? Don't they break?