1869.] COUPLING LINKS BETWEEN PANELLED "WALLS AND FLOWER BEDS. 209 



and 13 ft. wide, furnished with handsome stone seats at both ends. The arches 

 run down the ends of the garden in single file, and also run across the centre, 

 and round the fountain. The flower beds are large, and nearly flat, requiring 

 from 500 to 1,000 plants apiece. The massiveness of the wall seemed to lie 

 like a dead weight upon such broad sheets of colouring, and the problem 

 was to adopt some expedient to lighten the wall and the garden at the 

 same time, as well as to link the two together, or enable them to meet 

 in congruous harmony. The puzzle seemed to be how to bring the wall 

 down to the garden, or the garden up to the wall, without a painful hitch between 

 them. The difficulty was increased in this instance, as the wall itself was too 

 squat for its thickness. I therefore began, as it were, by virtually raising the 

 wall. Its heavy line of coping and vases was cut into elegant shreds by running 

 up spiral forms to a height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. within a few feet of its base. This 

 had a magical influence upon the wall, uplifting as it were a huge load from its 

 mighty back. But having thus, as it were, trebled the height of the wall with 

 a line of spiral trees, the next step was to lower it gracefully into the flower-beds. 

 This was done by the use of other trees and flowers in the following manner : — 

 The first trees were planted at a distance of 4£ ft. from the wall in the centre of 

 every panel, an upright cypress and a rose being used alternately. The winter 

 of '59-'60 destroyed most of the cypresses, and they were at once replaced with 

 common yews cut into shape. These have done so well, that already they measure 

 about 4 ft. across, and average from 10 ft. to 14 ft. in height — dense masses of 

 sombre beauty. The roses have reached nearly to the same height. Opposite 

 each rose tree, at a distance of 15 ft. from the wall, an Irish yew of slender build, 

 and from 4 ft. to 6 ft. in height, is plaoed. Then follows a grass walk 14 ft. 

 wide, and on the opposite side, with their feet in the flowers, a row of golden 

 Irish yews nod across the ample sward at their green brothers. The garden is 

 pierced lengthways by a green division of similar width, and this is lined on each 

 side with a row of stately sentinels of Irish yew, of from 10 ft. to 14 ft. in height, 

 which gave a sort of architectural character to the whole, in harmony with the 

 water, the fountain, massive stone walls, and the mansion within sight, and cut 

 asunder the rose arch in every conceivable and inconceivable way, with striking 

 and novel effects. 



Returning to the wall, the large trees are planted near the outside cf a series 

 of semicircular spaces of 4£ft. radius, and nearly 10 ft. long. On each of these 

 spaces, between the trees and the wall, five strong choice double Hollyhocks aro 

 planted. By dint of constant manuring, in a solid and liquid form, these grow 

 strongly and flower profusely, and, of course, impart the idea of an unbroken 

 row of beauty from either end. They are likewise effective from any point, and 

 leave the pillars and vases quite free to display their charms between them. In 

 the corner space, formed by the pyramidal trees and the line of Hollyhocks, a 

 single plant on each side, of Fuchsia, Heliotrope, or Pelargonium, has generally 



