Novembor 28, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



447 



moat ftnd other defsncefi, Tnaseivo stono walls, a large hall, or 

 rather the site of what was one, and some smaller arched re- 

 cesses, with the remnants of a staircase, &c. Surrounding this 



remnant of a former age, are some of the best examples of 

 modern Uower gardening, together with others of a style some 

 two centuries old, and the whole is in the best possible keeping. 



FLOWER GARDEN AT jtRCnERFIELD ADJOraiNG DIRLETOS CASTLE. 



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. 





The plan of the garden, as given above, shows a piece of 

 ground irregular in its outline, and divided on the north side 

 into a set of beds, having gravel walis between them of the 

 nniform width of 3 J or 4 feet ; but the irregularity of the plot 

 prevents the beds assuming that uniformity of outline which 

 gives beauty to this class of ornamental gardening when seen 

 from an eminence, or when laid down on paper. The brilliancy. 



BEECH HEDGE, Will; AN ELEVATED WALK. 



Masses of Trees and Sbrr.bs enclosing bowling-green, 

 sun'ounded by Yew edge. 



however, of the plants which occupied the beds made full com- 

 pensation for the want of symmetry in the figure. This garden, 

 it is necessary to state, is completely shut in by high boundary 

 lines, and, possibly, may have been the kitchen garden to the 

 Castle many generations ago. A wall 220 feet long runs along 

 the northern boundary, where it is covered with Eoses, Myrtles, 

 Magnolias, Wistarias, &c., as well as along the western one. 

 There is a round tower at the north-western comer, and the 

 entrance is a little to the south of this and from a sort of 

 public green sufficiently large for all athletic sports, without 

 being an ugly waste. A number of dwellings are scattered 

 around this green, being, in fact, Dirleton -s-iUage. The en- 

 trance to the garden, as shown on the plan, is where the 

 two flower garden compartments imite, but it will be better 

 to describe the northern one first. I beUeve but few could 

 enter the door without being struck with the extraordinary 

 blaze of colour spread out before them ; even those who are 

 well versed in the art of bedding for effect, and have followed it 

 for years with success, have been compelled to confess they 

 never saw the like before. The plants employed, as will be 

 seen, were kinds well known and generally used elsewhere, but 

 here they seemed to be possessed of more than ordinary 

 powers of fui-nishing bloom, for excepting in some cases where 

 annuals of a certain class have produced a mass for a very 

 limited time, I never saw so much bloom on any other class of 

 plants, and the arrangement as to height and harmony of 

 colour was faultless. Subjoined is the planting of the northern 

 garden : — 



No. 1. Geranium Little David (scarlet), edged with Cloth of 

 Gold Geranium. 

 la.Geranium Perfection (scarlet), edged in like mann er 

 with Cloth of Gold. 



2. Verbena Purple King, with a double row of Geraninm 



Silver Queen round the edge. 



3. Calceolaria Aurantia multiflora, edged with Perilla. 



4. Intersection of the bed Ceutaurea candidissima, or, as 



Mr. Thomson has it. C. ragusina. The quarters, 

 A A, are planted with Geranium Chiistine ; and e e, 

 with Calceolaria Ambassador, a crimson variety ; _ and 

 around the whole is a band of silver-edged Geranium, 

 Queeti of Queens, and outside of that Golden Chain 

 Geranium, with an edging of Lobelia speciosa. 



5. Verbena Charlwoodii, an old plum-coloured variety, far 



exceeding many newer ones in habit and brUliancy 

 of colauring. A large breadth of this occupied the 

 centre of the bed, and around it were a band of 

 Variegated Alyssum, and two rows of LobeUa Pax- 

 toniana as an edging. 



