hardy flowers to the planting of Lady Henry Grosvenor, whose fine taste 

 and great love of flowers made it in her day one of the best gardens of 

 hardy plants, and whose untimely death, in the very prime of life, was 

 almost as much deplored by the best of the horticultural amateurs who 

 only knew her by reputation, but were aware of her good work in 

 gardening, as by her wide circle of personal friends. 



She had a special love for the flag-leaved Irises, and used them with 

 very fine effect. The borders that show to right and left of the steps 

 had them in large groups, and were masses of bloom in June ; other 

 plants, placed behind and between, succeeding them later. Lady Henry 

 was one of the first amateurs to perceive the value of planting in this 

 large way, and, as she had ample spaces to deal with, the effects she 

 produced were very fine, and must have been helpful in influencing 

 horticultural taste in a right direction. 



Another important portion of the garden at Bulwick is a long double 

 flower-border backed by holly hedges, that runs through the whole middle 

 length of the kitchen garden. It is in a straight line with the flagged 

 walk that passes westward across the green court next to the house, and 

 parallel with its garden front. The flagged path stops at the gate-piers 

 in the second picture, a grass path following upon the same line and 

 passing just behind the shaded seat. 



The holly hedges that back the borders are old and solid. Their top 

 line, shaped like a flat-pitched roof, is ornamented at intervals with 

 mushroom-shaped finials, each upon its stalk of holly stem. The grass 

 walk and double border pass right across the kitchen garden in the line 

 of its longest axis. At the furthest end there is another pair of the same 

 handsome gate-piers with a beautiful wrought-iron gate, leading into the 

 park. The park is handsomely timbered, and in early summer is 

 especially delightful from the great number of fine old hawthorns. 



In Lady Henry's time several borders in the kitchen garden were 

 made bright with annuals and other flowers. Such borders are very 

 commonly used for reserve purposes, such as the provision of flowers for 

 cutting, with one main double border for ornament alone. But where 

 gardens are being laid out from the beginning, such a plan as this at 

 Bulwick, of a grass path with flower borders and a screening hedge at the 



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