10 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ July 1, 1875. 



in those monthB, or indeed into many a place where gardening 

 is celebrated, and there is little on which its owner can gaze 

 with much satisfaction. Of course, in his greenhouses and 

 conservatories he has the wealth of other lands, but his garden 

 is bare, the beds are empty, and he only lives on the promise 

 of the future. But it is in spring that Belvoir is in its glory. 

 Its spring gardening is famous, and a mass of beauty greets 

 the eye as one comes upon terrace and glade where flowers 

 which one used to meet with in earlier days, but which have 

 been shoved aside as not fit for their aristocratic congeners, 

 have found a home, and where they amply repay the care 

 bestowed upon them by Mr. Ingram. 



It was on one of those beauteous days more like July, in the 

 early part of last month (May), that on my way to Manchester 



I determined to fulfil a long-promised wish and to accept an 

 oft-repeated invitation to visit Mr. Ingram at Belvoir. I was 

 indeed a little too late ; should have been much more so had 

 it not been for the late spring, or rather shall I not say the 

 prolonged winter ? But I was enabled to see a great deal of 

 the beauty of the gardening, and could easily imagine what it 

 had been just before, for it is Mr. Ingram's plan not to depend 

 on a mass of bloom at any one particular time, but to have a 

 continued succession. And so away to the Duchess's garden. 

 This is a beautiful glade of considerable extent, surrounded 

 on all sides by trees of grand dimensions which were then in 

 their early beauty, developing those varied tints of green which, 

 if not quite so glowing as the autumnal ones, are at any rate 

 fresher, and, moreover, are associated with the thoughts of the 



lengthening and brightening days of summer, and not with 

 the shortening and darkening days of winter. In this glade 

 the natural rocks have been accommodated to the requirements 

 of alpine gardening, while the upper p nrtion has been arranged 

 in beds. This, while effective, I would fain hope may some 

 (lay share in what are evidently Jlr. Ingram's own predilec- 

 tions, and be merged in the irregular but most effective style 

 which is so charming in the lower parts of the ground. Not 

 that I have a word to say against the bedding-out, save as 

 such, for nothing could be better than the tasteful arrangement 

 of colour both of foliage and flowers. The Tulips, Hyacinths, 

 and Crocuses were all over ; but the bedding Pansies, the Oxlips 

 fof which the Belvoir strain is remaikably fine), were in flower. 

 The beautiful Gentiana verna, accommodated with nice little 

 ledges on which its brilliant blue shone out brilliantly, the 

 bright yellow Doronicum austriacum, and other fine plants 

 were there. And then how beautiful were the blue Forget-me- 

 nots ! how luxuriantly fine the Saxifraga crassifolia ! Then, 

 again, we had the brilliant blue of Lithospermum prostratum 

 as it trailed over the rockery, and that of its larger congener 

 L. Gastoni. Of a softer but no less beautiful shade of blue 

 was MyoBotis dissitiflora, though now nearly past, as it is the 

 earliest of the tribe. Then how fine was Veratrum nigrum, 

 beautiful for its foliage ! And another plant which Mr. Ingram 

 uses very largely — and well may he do so, for its fine bronzy 

 foliage forms quite a grand point in the spring gardening, 

 Heuchera Incida — I have not seen it in use before. Then there 



were bright masses of Dianthus neglectus and alpinus with 

 their dense tufts of lovely pink flowers ; and turn which way 

 you will gems of rarity or beauty met the eye. 



Nor let it be supposed that all this is easily managed work. 

 These midland counties are cold ; they suft'er from drought, 

 and last summer had been especially fatal to many of the rarer 

 alpine plants. One Ukes to linger on these slopes, and the 

 clever sketch by Mrs. Ingram, who is an artist of no slight 

 merit, will give some idea of its situation ; and as one stands 

 on the upper portion of it and looks down on the carpet of 

 lovely green backed by the feathery and elegant foliage of the 

 Birch, it is indeed hard to be obliged to tear oneself away 

 from it. 



A word or two on the beds shown in the sketch. Here is 

 one of Myosotis dissitiflora, with Doronicum caucasicum spring- 

 ing from it. Here is another — one of the serpentine beds — 

 composed of dwarf Wallflowers, Myosotis dissitiflora, Aubrietia 

 (Ingram's strain), and at the edge Sedum acre. Then I noticed 

 another of Daisies, Aubrietia, Oxlips, Forget-me-not, Heuchera, 

 Heath, and Arabia ; but the combinations were numerous and 

 beautiful, although, as I have said, the wilder and more natural 

 portion of the garden pleased me most. 



As these slopes are so extensive Mr. Ingram is able to have 

 masses of colour. Those of us who grow a few alpines and 

 herbaceous plants must be contented with their individual 

 beauties, but here it is otherwise ; and although no glowing 

 colours meet the eye, yet the deep and lovely blues which bo 



