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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



March, 191 t 



Some Gardens and Gardeners in the Old Land 



Miss M. E. Blacklock, Toronto, Ont. 



THE Royal Horticultural Society's 

 July Show is held at Holland 

 House, an historic old place, the 

 grounds of which are even now being 

 cut up into building lots, the land being 

 too valuable to be allowed to lie unused 

 any longer. Indeed, it is wonderful 

 to think it has escajjed this fate 

 for so many years — a bit of beauti- 

 fully wooded country right in the midst 

 of London's rush and wliirl Those at- 

 tending the show are permitted, by pay- 

 ing a fee of a shilling or two, which is 

 given to some charity, to go over the 

 grounds. 



This was a chance not to be missed, 

 despite a drenching rain, as the gardens 

 are quite celebrated. A large stretch of 

 lawn, with flower beds here and there, 

 occupied one side of the house, the end 

 of which opened on a walled-in, formal 

 garden, good, of its kind. The wall on 

 one side formed a back to several glass- 

 houses or conservatories, and by mount- 

 ing a stairway in the one farthest from 

 the house, one came out on the roof, 

 which _ formed a wide promenade all 

 along, overlooking the formal garden as 

 well as the grounds in general. This 

 promenade ended in a flight of wide 

 steps down to the other side of the 

 house, not far from the front door. The 

 walks in the grounds were so arranged 

 that they seemed endlessly long — and 

 rather tedious, to be truthful — branch 

 paths leading- here and there to various 

 points of interest, such as the rock gar- 

 den, the rose garden, the Japanese gar- 

 den, and others. The last was pitifully 

 artificial and the whole effect very poor. 

 In fact, taken as a whole, the grounds 

 were badly laid out and nothing like as 

 beautiful as they might easily have been, 

 with such magnificent opportunities. 

 The trees and shrubs were lovely, and of 

 course no place could be ugly with them 

 for a background, but the garden it- 

 self was a hopeless jumble of beautiful 

 things, with no repose about it. 



PROFESSIONAL GARDENS 



Delightful visits were paid to Messrs. 

 Barr & Sons' Nurseries at Surbiton, 

 where one could wander around for 

 hours at one's own sweet will amongst 

 all their lovely things, getting valuable 

 information all the time. To the Messrs. 

 Perry at Fn field — Mr. Perry, Junior, 

 with a wide knowledge apparently of 

 the flora of the whole world, went around 

 their grounds with me and showed me 

 his best beloved treasures, specimens no 

 money could buy, as well as the grand 

 collection of herbaceous plants that they 

 have for sale. Their collection of del- 

 phiniums is superb and won the gold 

 medal at the Holland House Show. And 

 to Backhouse & Sons at York, whose 

 stock of Alpines of all kinds is wonder- 



fully complete. Their place is beautifully 

 laid out, and their herbaceous borders 

 and rock gardens are extremely inter- 

 esting. 



MALVERN GARDENS 



The gardens at Maddersfield Court, 

 Earl Beauchamp's place near Malvern, 

 are very quaint and the trees magnifi- 

 cent. A beautiful stream runs through a 

 ravine in the grounds and full advantage 

 has been taken of it to plant waterside 

 things. A little island in it was devoted 

 to primulas of all kinds, some of which 

 were in bloom in August. The some- 

 what steep banks were clothed with 

 many beautiful things. There was quite 

 an imposing rock garden in which ferns 

 grew in riotous profusion, but, though 

 beautiful, it did not give you the idea 

 that Nature had had a hand in the mak- 

 ing of it. 



A rose garden, enclosed with a hedge 

 cut into divisions with arms to them like 

 those of a bench, had a quaint effect, like 

 so many stalls. A moat surrounded the 

 mansion, the walls of which, on the 

 house side, were covered with roses 

 which were smothered in bloom. There 

 was a maze and also a small enclosed 

 garden, with a sundial at one end O' it, 

 which was very pretty. 



A SCOTCH GARDEN 



A charming garden up in Duns, Scot- 

 land, was as interesting as its owner, 

 a doctor, who is as great an enthusiast 

 as our president. His two special favor- 

 ites were primulas, of which he has all 

 the rarest varieties, and delphiniums. Of 

 the latter, Mr. Quick, of "The Garden 

 Magazine," spoke in most unstinted 

 praise, saying they were the finest he 

 ever saw, and he has ample opportunity 

 for judging. They were so nearly over 

 when I got there that it was unfair to 

 compare them with others seen in the 

 height of the delphinium season, but even 

 they were very fine. The doctor was 

 awarded a bronze medal at the great 

 Edinburgh Flower Show in September 

 for a stand of primulas he exhibited, at 

 which he would doubtless be much 

 elated. 



The lovely Penstemon, "Newbury 

 Gem," made a wonderfully vivid bit of 

 color in this garden and the Shasta 

 Daisy, "Edward the Seventh," which is 

 not specially tall here, grew at least four 

 feet high there. He had a little bit of his 

 border devoted to the various varieties 

 of heather, and a very interesting and 

 beautiful group of plants they were. He 

 is a clever gardener, for his borders were 

 full of bloom, though it was September, 

 and we all know how hard it is to plan 

 for succession of bloom, when the sea- 

 son is nearly over. 



The two Japanese gardens at the 



Japan-Briti.sh Exhibition were (jerhaps 

 the most satisfying of any, despite the 

 fact that they contained very few flow- 

 ers. Their very names suggested 

 beauty and were not misleading, "The 

 Garden of the Floating Island" and 

 "The Garden of Peace." Anything more 

 artistic and beautiful than these two 

 gardens it would be difficult to conceive. 

 You left the noise and glitter and jostl- 

 ing crowds of the great Exhibition be- 

 hind you, and, the moment you entered 

 their precincts, the spell of their loveli- 

 ness fell upon you and you lost all sense 

 of weariness and just allowed the peace 

 and the quiet and the perfection of it all 

 to sink gradually into your soul. Grass, 

 rocks, a little bridge, a pagoda-like sum- 

 merhouse, a shimmering pool, a stone 

 lantern or two, some of the crimson- 

 leaved dwarf Japanese maples and a few 

 small trees, mostly evergreen and of 



Cattlcy* Ltbiata 



A variety of ornamental orchids, which iv 

 natives of tropical America. 



tapering shape, these were the material 

 used, but an artist combined them. 

 Verily the Japanese are a wonderful little 

 nation 



Insect Pests 



Fir-tree oil soap is destructieve to the 

 apples. Dissolve an ounce of it in warm 

 water and syringe or wash the plant 

 .with it. 



Red spider is readily routed by plain 

 water. The pe.st cannot endure moist- 

 ure. Its appearance is an indication of 

 too dry air. 



The blue aphis, which works at the 

 roots of roses and other plants, and the 

 mealy bug, a small downy creature, gray- 

 white in color, thrives in a high tempera- 

 ture, and sorely troubles plants in an 

 ordinary living room. For the former, 

 pour liquid tobacco, strong and black, 

 about the roots. For the mealy bugs, use 

 fir-tree oil soap. 



Mildew on leaves will yield if dusted 

 with flowers of sulphur or sprayed with 

 kerosene emulsion. 



.A.zaleas will grow and flower for years 

 if proper care is taken of the plants dur- 

 ing the summer. The pots should be 

 placed in partial shade and sprinkled 

 every clear day with water. 



